Kyiv pushes back on US call for new Ukrainian president

Only Russia is responsible for the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said yesterday as he vowed to press ahead with strikes on Russian oil refineries, despite criticism from US President Donald Trump, who blamed him for high diesel prices and said he should be replaced.

The exchange came as Kyiv pressed its campaign against infrastructure deep inside Russia, with a drone attack yesterday shutting down a data center run by Russian technology giant Yandex, the third strike on the company’s facilities in four days.

“Ukraine will be ready to stop striking Russian oil refineries if Russia stops striking our energy infrastructure,” Zelenskiy wrote on X.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks to the media in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region on Thursday.

Photo: Reuters

“It is possible to stop strikes on energy infrastructure as early as today, but [Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not want to do so,” he said, adding that any de-escalation must be reciprocal and backed by real guarantees.

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha pushed back on Trump’s comments, writing on X that Zelenskiy was leading the country through a war for its independence.

“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,” Sybiha wrote.

Trump on Saturday said it was time for Ukraine to get a new president, suggesting Zelenskiy has not done enough to end the war and blaming him for high diesel prices in the US.

“I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal, because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does,” Trump said.

The US president, who on Friday struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to buy diesel from Russia in an attempt to address high fuel prices ahead of the US midterm elections, has been urging Zelenskiy for weeks to stop strikes on Russian energy infrastructure.

He has sought to blame record US diesel prices on Ukraine rather than the US-led war in Iran, which has driven up world energy prices.

Ukrainian and European officials reacted to the diesel deal with dismay, saying it will help pay for Russia’s war effort.