Trump says Ukraine needs a new president, blames Zelenskyy's strikes on Russian refineries for high diesel prices

President Trump said Saturday that it was time for Ukraine to get a new president, suggesting the current leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has not done enough to end his country's war with Russia.

"I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does," Mr. Trump told reporters as he was leaving the White House for a trip to Tennessee.

He also blamed Ukraine's recent strikes on Russian oil refineries for contributing to high diesel prices before the midterm election, despite the ongoing war in Iran.

"He wants to make problems for the world. He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel," Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump also suggested that if he had been U.S. president in 2022, Russia's invasion of Ukraine "would have never started."

"There was no reason that the war with Ukraine and Russia started," he said. "It started due to incompetence."

Zelenskyy, Mr. Trump said, has "lost 30% of your country and you've had over a million people go between the two of them, over 2 million people killed. That's a war that should have never started. And I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president."

Ukraine's foreign minister said Saturday that Zelenskyy had the backing of the Ukrainian people and deserved support.

"He has the support of the Ukrainian people, and they have the right to decide," Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said of Zelenskyy in a post on X. "Statements from abroad only confirm that he is doing his job well. He deserves support."

The American president's comments came hours after Zelenskyy offered pointed criticism of a new diesel deal between the U.S. and Russia. He said the deal would help bankroll Moscow's war in Ukraine.

According to Mr. Trump's announcement on Friday, Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons "immediately thereafter."

"Additionally, based on the condition of their Diesel Refineries, Russia will then deliver, within a short period of time, 3,000,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel," Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Mr. Trump's shocking announcement was in stark contrast to a sweeping Russia sanctions law he signed last month that aimed at clamping down on the oil and gas revenues that fuel Russia's war against Ukraine.

The Treasury Department announced Friday that it would temporarily waive sanctions on Russia's energy sector to "allow the supply of Russian diesel to the global market."

In a lengthy post online reacting to the deal on Friday, Zelenskyy said Russia would repay it "with further terror and perfidy." He cast it as an investment in the war, allowing it to be prolonged.

"It plays into Russia's hands — allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world," he said.

Russian strikes kill at least 20 in Ukraine

Meanwhile, Russian strikes killed at least 20 people, including three children, in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, officials said on Saturday.

Russian aerial bombs hit residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, Mykhailo Semikin, the head of the regional military administration, said Saturday. At least 18 people were wounded.

Missiles also struck Kyiv in a daytime attack Saturday. Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said four people were wounded.

Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range aerial war while their armies remain largely deadlocked on the front line, more than 4 1/2 years since Moscow's full-scale invasion. Ukraine is struggling to counter escalating Russian bombardments that have killed more than 60 people over the past four days.

"Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia," Zelenskyy wrote Saturday on X.

He said the attacks show Moscow understands "any easing of pressure to mean they can keep fighting, to mean they can keep dropping bombs on cities," adding that "different signals are needed."