Trump targets Zelensky and consolidates his rapprochement with Moscow: "It's time for a new president"

WASHINGTON.– U.S. President Donald Trump said this Saturday that it is time for Ukraine to have a new president, hinting that Volodymyr Zelensky has not done enough to end the war and blaming him for high diesel prices in the United States. "I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal, because many deals could have been made and for some reason he never makes them," Trump said at the White House, in one of his most explicit pronouncements against the Ukrainian cause in its fight against the Russian invasion. The statements follow the unprecedented Friday agreement between Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in which they agreed on the United States' purchase of Russian diesel, in an attempt by the American to lower fuel prices for consumers in his country just weeks before the midterm elections. Donald Trump descends from Air Force One upon arrival in Kentucky to lead a campaign rallyMANDEL NGAN - AFP Trump has urged Zelensky for weeks to stop the attacks against Russian energy infrastructure. He has also sought to blame Ukraine for record diesel prices in the United States instead of the war he is waging against Iran, which has driven up world energy prices since February. "He wants to create problems for the world. He wants to create problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel," Trump said before departing for Tennessee, where he was to lead a rally to mobilize Republican voters ahead of the crucial November legislative elections. An Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll from October 1 found that Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of Iran and blame him for the price increases. Trump also suggested that, if he had been president in 2022, "that war would never have started. There was no reason for that war between Ukraine and Russia to start. It started because of incompetence." Zelensky has "lost 30% of your country and there have been more than a million people displaced on both sides, and more than 2 million dead. That is a war that should never have started. And I think it is time for Ukraine to have a new president," he declared. About 20% of Ukraine's territory is under Russian control. British defense officials recently estimated that nearly half a million Russian soldiers have died in the war; there are no recent reliable estimates of how many Ukrainians have died. Applause from Russia "President Trump joins those who believe that Ukraine needs leadership truly oriented toward peace, instead of Zelensky's warmongering attitude: 'The time has come for Ukraine to have a new president.' Something iconic and historic," wrote presidential envoy and Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev on X, underscoring the full strategic alignment between the two governments. Trump's extraordinary intervention came after at least 20 people died in Russian bombardments in the Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia. At least 18 more people were wounded in the attack. Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range air war while their armies remain virtually deadlocked along the front line, more than four and a half years after the start of the invasion. "Today, Russia expressed its gratitude for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by launching five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia," Zelensky said this Saturday on his X account. And he noted that Moscow interprets "any relaxation of pressure as meaning it can keep fighting, that it can keep dropping bombs on cities." "Russia's choice is war," he said in a later post on Telegram, following drone attacks on energy facilities and a ballistic missile offensive against Kyiv. Zelensky stated that every additional billion dollars Russia earns from exports would help pay for weapons components, drone upgrades, missile production, and the recruitment of mercenaries, and that Moscow would only be ready to stop when its ability to fight diminished. With the diesel deal, Moscow received "signals that it is apparently permissible to keep attacking. And this needs to be corrected," he insisted, calling on the United States, Europe, and other partners to limit Russia's ability to wage war. The moment of impact of a Russian bombardment on a clinic in KharkivSERGEY BOBOK - AFP In Kyiv, several people gathered at a monument honoring fallen soldiers on Independence Square and received the Trump-Putin deal with a mix of anger and resignation. "Trump showed his true face again," said Oleksandr Petrenko, 26. "He didn't care about the situation, the bombardments, or the destruction of our homes. The only thing he cares about is oil or fuel prices and how much Americans have to pay." For Oksana Yakunina, a financial advisor from Kropyvnytskyi, the announcement "was not really a surprise." "Trump has been working with Putin for a long time," she said. Ukraine's European allies expressed consternation over the deal and said they remained committed to sanctions. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he regretted the deal, "since energy revenues are central to the Russian war budget," and noted that the European Union will adopt on Monday its broadest sanctions package to date, with 1,600 listings targeting the military-industrial complex. The German government "remains committed to the sanctions imposed on Russia and is working with its European partners on new sanctions," said spokesman Stefan Kornelius, adding that support for Ukraine "remains unwavering." Trump's surprise announcement clashed head-on with the sweeping sanctions law against Moscow that he signed last month, which sought to restrict the oil and gas revenues that fuel the Kremlin's war against its neighbor. Agencies AP and ANSA War in Ukraine Donald Trump Volodymyr Zelensky