Time for someone other than Zelensky to speak for Ukraine – Trump

The Ukrainian leader could have ended Kiev’s conflict with Moscow “a long time ago,” the US president has said

It is high time Ukraine found itself a new representative to negotiate peace with Russia, US President Donald Trump has said, adding that Vladimir Zelensky “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” He also stated that he was ready to discuss a resolution to the conflict with Russia and China.

The statement comes amid a deepening rift between Trump and Zelensky over the Ukrainian military’s continued targeting of Russian refineries at a time when the American president has struck a deal with Moscow aimed at reining in skyrocketing global energy prices through Russian diesel exports.

“Zelensky’s a man that should have this war settled a long time ago,” Trump told reporters on Monday when asked about the Ukrainian leader’s criticism of his deal with President Vladimir Putin.

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“Zelensky doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Trump said. “To be honest, I think it’s time for someone else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine. Maybe it’s time for Zelensky to get someone else to negotiate.”

The agreement between Trump and Putin, reached earlier this month, involved the US easing restrictions on Moscow’s diesel exports and waiving the “bone-crushing” sanctions, including 500% tariffs on imports from Russia and 100% tariffs on major buyers of Russian oil and gas, in exchange for Moscow supplying diesel to the global market and potentially to the US as well.

Kiev has continued to target Russian oil infrastructure despite repeated requests by Trump to curb the attacks, which he blames for surging global energy prices. On Monday, the US president reiterated that Kiev was acting ungratefully towards America.

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“We’ve given a lot to Ukraine, they’ve given nothing to us… We’ve given hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said.

When asked if he would be ready to negotiate a settlement of the Ukraine conflict with Moscow and Beijing, without Zelensky present, Trump said he just wanted the conflict to end and would do “anything I can do to end the war, whether somebody is there or not.”

Earlier on Monday, the Kremlin said that Putin, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could potentially meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next month.

Trump’s remarks on Monday follow a series of similar statements he has made in recent days. Over the weekend, the American president accused Zelensky of being unwilling to ever end the conflict. “He doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did,” Trump stated at the time.

READ MORE: Trump has made a deal with Moscow, but Zelensky has other ideas

On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also suggested that Zelensky has “no desire” to reach a settlement because his government would collapse if Ukraine signed a deal acceptable to both the US and Russia. Moscow has long accused Ukraine’s Western backers, including former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, of sabotaging the 2022 peace talks in Istanbul. Russia has also identified the stance of Ukraine’s European backers as one of the key obstacles to resolving the conflict.