Zelensky bashes Trump over diesel deal with Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky bashed President Donald Trump’s deal with Russia to supply millions of tons of diesel fuel to global markets, giving arguably his most direct and biting criticism of Trump so far.Trump announced the deal on Friday in a post on Truth Social after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, marking a stark reversal of U.S. policy since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Zelensky was quick to decry the deal, which undercuts one of Ukraine’s central strategies of stripping Moscow of revenue from diesel exports. He went beyond his previous criticisms of Trump’s stance, this time going after the president directly.“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. That means more money for this war, more money to inflict suffering on us, without a doubt. It only feeds Putin and gives him the ability to fight even more,” Zelensky said in a statement. He proceeded to further dig into Trump, saying he was making a “weak” decision, being unfair to Kyiv’s negotiators, and undermining peace.“And at this very moment, while we are talking about peace, America is allowing Russia to export diesel fuel. This means — I don’t know for certain — millions, billions. In any case, all that money goes toward the war against people, against Ukraine, against all of us. I believe our team is simply being used as a smokescreen. And that is certainly not fair. 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,” Zelensky concluded.The biting criticism is unlikely to be well-received by Trump, who has had an unstable relationship with the Ukrainian leader. Their relationship has vacillated wildly since Trump took office, with the nadir marked at the infamous Feb. 28 Oval Office meeting in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance said Zelensky was ungrateful for the U.S. aid.Parts of Zelensky’s statement were relayed to Trump outside the White House by a reporter, but he shrugged it off. He went on to praise Russia for the diesel deal at a Syracuse, New York, rally.TRUMP ANNOUNCES DIESEL FUEL DEAL WITH RUSSIA TO ADDRESS ELEVATED PRICESThe deal, intended to drive down diesel prices ahead of the midterm elections, comes amid a recent surge. The rise in prices has been credited to both Ukraine’s long-range strike campaign targeting Russian refineries and the continued clash over the Strait of Hormuz.At the Syracuse rally Friday evening, Trump boasted about the military campaign in Iran, claimed oil prices are “tumbling down like you’ve never seen before,” and called on “refiners and retailers” to begin lowering their gas prices.