In remarks to reporters, Trump described Zelenskyy as a more difficult counterpart at the negotiating table than Putin, characterising the Ukrainian leader not as a willing participant in the process but as someone presenting an obstacle to progress. Those remarks, delivered Thursday in a television interview, came at a point when relations between Washington and Kyiv had grown strained over Ukraine's renewed targeting of Russian oil refineries and the absence of progress toward a peace settlement.
Trump cast doubt on Zelenskyy's commitment to ending the war, suggesting the Ukrainian leader's stated desire for peace had not translated into a willingness to accept terms. In a statement, Trump said he viewed Zelenskyy as harder to negotiate with than Putin, while adding that he believed both sides wanted the conflict to stop.
Pointing to what he described as an inevitable peace deal, Trump also renewed his objections to the way Zelenskyy has handled the Ukrainian presidency, adding that any eventual agreement would likely come together without the Ukrainian leader at the table.
The comments came after Ukraine had resumed targeting Russian energy facilities, among them a refinery in the Ryazan region struck by a drone on Thursday. A fire broke out at the installation — located roughly 300 kilometres south-east of Moscow — following the attack, according to available reports.
In remarks directed at Ukraine's strikes on oil refineries, Trump stated that the operations placed global energy supplies at risk and pointed to the prospect of rising diesel prices as a consequence. Efforts to broker a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire on energy infrastructure — a goal that had drawn diplomatic attention from Trump — encountered a new set of complications in the wake of the attacks.
Zelenskyy indicated that the pause on targeting Russian oil refineries — put in place after Trump announced an agreement to halt strikes on energy infrastructure — could not hold so long as Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory continued. Both sides have traded blame over alleged breaches of the proposed arrangement, a dispute that has placed fresh strain on negotiations aimed at bringing the war to a close.
On separate occasions, Trump put forward the idea of Ukraine staging an election and raised doubts about whether Zelenskyy's continued leadership was warranted. Ukraine has not held a presidential election at any point during the period of Russia's large-scale military operations, which began in February 2022. Under the terms of martial law — which Ukrainian legislation bars from being interrupted by national elections — that legal framework continues to operate.
Zelenskyy placed on record his unease with the direction of several recent decisions out of Washington. Speaking to Piers Morgan in an interview released on Wednesday, he described feeling let down by the arrangement Trump reached over Russian diesel imports and took issue with the limitations placed on Ukraine's access to Starlink satellite communications. He added that Ukraine stood to forfeit a key ally in the United States.
Diplomatic efforts by the United States to bring the conflict to a close have so far yielded limited progress, a backdrop against which the current strains are unfolding. Backing from European leaders and NATO has been a consistent priority for Zelenskyy, who has argued that the unrelenting pace of Russian attacks leaves little room for concessions. Remarks from Trump have pointed to a distance opening up between the two leaders, with peace talks still unresolved and the conflict ongoing.
