US President Donald Trump in the White House Rose Garden on Thursday Alamy Stock Photo
War in Ukraine
Trump said Zelenskyy was less willing than Vladimir Putin to reach a compromise to end the war.
US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has called Ukraine’s renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries a “disgrace”, as his so-called energy ceasefire collapsed after failing to fully materialise.
Trump had declared a halt to strikes on energy infrastructure from both sides, although neither Ukraine nor Russia had confirmed there was any such agreement.
Still Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told his military to hold back from hitting Russian energy targets for three days, even as he said Russia continued to launch attacks of its own.
“Well, I think that’s a disgrace,” Trump told broadcaster Newsmax when asked about Ukraine’s renewed strikes, adding that they were driving up global energy prices.
The 80-year-old US president took aim at Zelenskyy, asserting that he was less willing than Russian President Vladimir Putin to reach a compromise to end the war.
It’s the latest in a series of broadsides against Zelenskyy after Trump recently said Ukraine needed a new leader.
“It should end soon. I think they actually both would like to see it end,” Trump said to Newsmax.
“But I think I find Zelenskyy to be more difficult to deal with than Putin.”
Against the backdrop of weakening ties with Trump, Zelenskyy met Nato chief Mark Rutte in Brussels and held a string of bilateral meetings with European leaders before he was set to join an EU leaders’ summit on Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron said it was “crucial” that Ukraine receive “all the means necessary to protect itself” after meeting Zelenskyy.
“I can reassure you, dear Ukrainian friends and President Zelenskyy: YOU ARE NOT ALONE,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted online.
Trump’s comments also come after he announced a deal that would see Russian diesel imported into the US, something that angered both Democratic and Republican politicians supportive of Ukraine.
Starlink
Meanwhile, British defence secretary Wes Streeting has said his US counterpart Pete Hegseth reassured him that the Ukrainian military’s access to the Starlink satellite internet system had been restored.
Ukraine said this week that the army’s access to the military version of Elon Musk’s service, Starshield, had been curtailed, impacting its ability to operate drones.
Speaking to the BBC after his Thursday meeting with Hegseth, Streeting said: “Unsurprisingly we did discuss Starlink. It’s not yet clear to us in the UK what happened, why the service interruption occurred.
“But I am reassured, and was reassured directly by Secretary Hegseth, that the service has been restored.
“And that is a demonstration, I think, of the importance of the US contribution on intelligence sharing.”
Streeting evaded questions on what caused the disruption, saying instead: “This is not the first time we’ve seen a falling out between Washington and Kyiv.
“And as I said to Secretary Hegseth, in the words of Saint Francis of Assisi, ‘Where there is discord, may we bring harmony.’
“That has been the British approach in moments like this. That’s the diplomacy and the approach I’ve brought to Washington today.
“I’m here to solve problems, and the UK has been Ukraine’s number one ally. We will continue to play that role.”
With reporting from AFP and Press Association