Trump calls for replacing Zelenskyy in tussle over Russia diesel deal

US President Donald Trump on Saturday called for Ukraine to replace its leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and railed against Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, a day after announcing a diesel supply deal with Russia that had drawn a sharp rebuke from Zelenskyy.  In some of his harshest criticism yet of the White House, Zelenskyy linked the US lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel with a Russian attack on Saturday that killed 20 people, including 3 children, in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. “I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” Trump told reporters at the White House, saying Zelenskyy had hurt global diesel supplies with strikes on Russian refineries. “He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world.”

NEW!! Trump accuses the Ukrainian president of ignoring U.S. warnings against striking Russian refineries, calls for Zelenskyy to be replaced… https://t.co/lJ4H6aju1K

— Alex Raufoglu (@ralexdc) October 10, 2026

A steep rise in global diesel prices, which followed the outbreak of the Iran war in February, has become a political liability for Trump’s Republican Party ahead of next month’s midterm elections, when opposition Democrats could gain control of one or both houses of Congress.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke with Zelenskyy on Saturday and said Britain would strengthen its sanctions on Russia, according to a Downing Street spokesperson, who added that the two leaders would meet in person in the coming days. The latest strikes followed talks between Ukrainian and European officials with US negotiators in Miami on Friday, which were aimed at developing a common proposal for ending the war, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Trump announced the diesel deal while the negotiations were under way, a move Zelenskyy said had caught Kyiv by surprise.