U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk have escalated their public criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging new leadership in Kyiv as diplomatic and energy tensions between the United States and Ukraine intensify.
The friction escalated following Trump’s remarks suggesting that Ukraine should elect a new president. Trump accused Zelenskyy of failing to secure a peace deal to end the ongoing war with Russia, and blamed the Ukrainian leader’s strategy for contributing to economic pressures in the U.S., including high domestic diesel prices.
The comments followed a U.S. move regarding Russian diesel imports—a decision Zelenskyy previously characterized as a concession to Moscow.
Trump told reporters outside the White House on Saturday that Zelensky “wants to make problems for the world” by continuing to authorise attacks on Russian refineries.
Global fuel supplies, including diesel, have been severely limited by the war against Iran launched by the US and Israel, which led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil products usually flows.
“We said, ‘you can do whatever you want to Russia, don’t hit the refineries’, because that’s a world problem that’s caused,” Trump said.
“He could have made many deals and for some reason, he never does.”
Echoing Trump’s sentiment, Musk stated that Zelenskyy “has gone too far” and intensified his ongoing attacks on the Ukrainian administration.
Musk has repeatedly utilized his social media platform, X, to challenge Zelenskyy’s mandate and leadership, claiming the Ukrainian president has avoided holding wartime elections and accusing him of prolonging the conflict.
In a blistering statement released Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the White House of using concurrent peace negotiations in Florida as a distraction to mask a backroom deal with Russia allowing temporary diesel exports.
The Ukrainian leader warned that the arrangement would directly fund Moscow’s military aggression and prolong the conflict, while indicating a conditional willingness to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries if Moscow reciprocates regarding Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“At this very moment, while our team is talking with the American team in Florida, at this very moment, the President of the United States is talking with the leader of the Kremlin, the leader of this war, the leader of this aggression, and has an agreement under which America is allowing Russia to export diesel fuel,” Zelenskyy said. “That means more money for this war, more money to inflict suffering on us, without a doubt.”
The deal “only feeds Putin” and will enable him to prolong a grinding war that has led to an estimated 2 million battlefield casualties, the Ukrainian leader warned.
He accused the White House of using the Florida negotiations as a distraction from what he said were “backroom deals” with Russia.
“I believe our team is simply being used as a smokescreen, and that is certainly not fair,” he said. “It is certainly not how partners should treat each other. In my view, this is a weak decision, unfortunately, a weak decision by strong partners.”
In a post on X, the Ukrainian leader said his country was ready to take “symmetrical de-escalatory steps” to an energy ceasefire, and would stop targeting Russian oil refineries if Russia agreed to do the same for Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy put the onus on the U.S. to engage in talks in good faith, saying that “the American team knows our position.”
