Trump: Ukraine Needs New President, 20 Dead in Zaporizhzhia
The US president faults Zelensky over strikes on Russian refineries, a day after agreeing with Putin to buy Russian diesel. Twenty people, three of them children, died in Zaporizhzhia.
US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday, October 10, that Ukraine should get a new president. The remark came a day after he agreed with Vladimir Putin to buy Russian diesel, and on the same morning Russian guided bombs killed 20 people in Zaporizhzhia. For Serbia, a candidate for EU membership, this is not a distant story: the dispute between Washington and European capitals over sanctions on Russia shapes the setting in which the European path will be pursued, and the fuel prices Trump is trying to bring down are felt at pumps across the continent.
What did Trump say about Zelensky?
By his account, the trigger was the Ukrainian military’s campaign against Russian refineries, which he says pushes up the global price of diesel.
“I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” Trump said, adding that Volodymyr Zelensky is causing problems for American farmers and ranchers, because Russia supplies a large share of the world’s diesel.
He also described a conversation in which, he claims, he asked Zelensky to stop the strikes. “I told him: do what you want, don’t hit the refineries, there are plenty of targets. But he went and hit them,” Trump said, then added: “He’d better damn well stop.” He also suggested Ukrainians should “find a new leader who can make a deal.”
Ukraine’s top diplomat, Andrii Sybiha, responded on X:
“He has the support of the Ukrainian people and they have the right to decide. Statements from abroad only confirm that he is doing his job well. He deserves support.”
Russian diesel and the law Trump signed himself
The day before, on Friday, October 9, Trump agreed with Putin that the US would buy Russian diesel, which in practice lifts sanctions on exports of that fuel. The deal runs against the Russia sanctions law Trump signed last month, and Republican Congressman Don Bacon is calling for that law to be enforced, not withdrawn.
Fuel prices have climbed since the US and Israel went to war against Iran, and ahead of the November congressional elections that is a political burden for Trump’s Republicans. Kyiv’s European allies voiced displeasure with the deal and said they are sticking with sanctions. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke with Zelensky on Saturday, and Downing Street says London is tightening sanctions on Russia. The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, wrote online on Saturday:
“This is not the moment to ease pressure on Russia, and Europe will not do it.”
Zaporizhzhia: 20 dead, three of them children
A Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia killed 20 people on Saturday, three of them children. Reuters reports that the dead include a six-year-old girl, and that one strike turned part of a residential building into rubble. Zaporizhzhia official Mykhailo Semykin said several locations were hit at once in the early morning hours.
Zelensky tied the attack to the American move:
“Today Russia said thank you for lifting sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five guided bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia. Last night confirmed once again that Russia treats every easing of pressure as a signal that it can continue the fighting, that it can continue to drop bombs on cities. Different signals are needed.”
We earlier reported at least 11 dead after bombs hit a five-story building; the toll has since risen to 20. It was the third attack with a high number of casualties in four days. On Wednesday and Thursday, nearly 80 civilians were killed, including at least 30 in Kramatorsk and 22 in a missile strike on Pryluky, about 130 kilometers east of Kyiv.
Talks in Miami and what comes next
American, Ukrainian and European officials met in Miami on Friday. Envoy Steve Witkoff said the participants included the E3, the European Commission, Ukraine and NATO, and the topics were energy, grain exports, security guarantees and reconstruction. The Ukrainian delegation returns home on Saturday, Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to Zelensky, told AFP.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned on Thursday that the war is in a stalemate that can end only one other way: “The other way stalemates end is escalation,” he told reporters.
Zelensky also spoke with Emmanuel Macron about air defense and with Finnish President Alexander Stubb. According to him, Ukraine will receive ammunition in the coming days for the F-16 jets it uses to shoot down Russian Shahed drones, and he warned of an increased risk of new missile strikes.
