WASHINGTON,— US President Donald Trump called on Saturday for Ukraine to replace its leader, criticizing Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil sites a day after announcing a diesel deal with Russia that angered President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zelensky offered some of his sharpest criticism yet of the White House, linking the US move to lift sanctions on Russian diesel to a Russian strike that killed 20 people, including three children, in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday.
Global diesel prices have risen sharply since the Iran war began in February, becoming a political problem for Trump’s Republican Party ahead of next month’s midterm elections, where Democrats could gain control of one or both chambers of Congress.
“I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” Trump told reporters at the White House, saying Zelensky had hurt global diesel supplies by striking Russian refineries.
He said Zelensky was creating problems for American farmers and ranchers, since Russia supplies much of the world’s diesel fuel.
Earlier Saturday, Zelensky said Trump’s Friday announcement of the diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin had emboldened Moscow. Kyiv has urged Washington instead to pressure Moscow into serious talks to end the war, now in its fifth year.
Russia’s government said Saturday it had partly lifted its ban on diesel exports.
“Today, Russia said thank you for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia,” Zelensky said.
He said the previous night showed again that Russia sees any easing of pressure as permission to keep fighting and bombing cities, adding that different signals were needed.
Zaporizhzhia, in southern Ukraine, has been a frequent target of Russian bombing, with strikes growing heavier in recent months.
Trump has clashed with Zelenskiy before. On February 19, 2025, Trump labeled Zelenskiy “a dictator without elections” and warned that unless Zelenskiy moved quickly to secure peace, he would have no country left.
The tension escalated further on February 28, 2025, when Trump and Zelenskiy clashed openly at the White House over the war.
On Saturday, a six-year-old girl was among the dead after a strike flattened part of an apartment building. Her grandfather, Anatoliy Chumniy, wept over her body after rescuers pulled it from the rubble and laid it on the ground in a white bag.
“Her birthday would have been at the end of the month,” he said through tears.
It was the third deadly mass attack on Ukraine in a week. Nearly 80 civilians were killed in Russian strikes on Wednesday and Thursday, including at least 30 killed by a bomb in the eastern city of Kramatorsk and 22 others killed by a missile in Pryluky, about 130 kilometers, or 80 miles, east of Kyiv.
The diesel deal also drew criticism from US lawmakers, including Republican Representative Don Bacon, who said Congress should enforce sanctions it had recently passed rather than lift them.
Analysts said the deal was unlikely to bring lasting lower fuel prices, noting the volumes involved remain far below what Russia usually exports when its refineries are not under attack.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke with Zelensky on Saturday and said Britain would strengthen sanctions on Russia, a Downing Street spokesperson said, adding that the two leaders would meet in person within days.
The strikes followed talks on Friday in Miami between Ukrainian and European officials and US negotiators, aimed at shaping a joint plan to end the war, according to a person familiar with the talks.
Trump announced the diesel deal while those talks were underway, a move Zelensky said caught Kyiv by surprise.
The Ukrainian delegation returned home Saturday, presidential aide Dmytro Lytvyn told the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
Putin said after speaking with Trump on Friday that an immediate resumption of peace talks was unlikely, citing Ukrainian drone strikes on Moscow.
US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner may travel to Moscow within two weeks, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported Saturday, citing a source.
At the White House, Trump also criticized Zelensky over the lack of a peace deal while demanding an end to Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy sites.
“I said to him, ‘Do what you want. Don’t hit refineries. There’s plenty of targets. Don’t hit refineries.’ And he went out and he hit,’” Trump said, adding that Zelensky had “better stop.”
He said Ukraine should pick a new leader who can make a deal, since Zelensky had many chances to do so but never did.
(With files from Reuters)
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