Trump lashes out at Zelenskyy over rising diesel prices in the US

US President Donald Trump has said it is time for Ukraine to get a new president, suggesting Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not done enough to end his country's war with Russia and blaming him for high diesel prices in America.

"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,"

Mr Trump said.

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

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

"He wants to make problems for the world. He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel," Mr Trump said, before departing for Tennessee where he was set to rally Republican voters.

Ukrainian and European officials reacted to Mr Trump's diesel deal with dismay, saying it will help pay for Russia's war efforts. 

Diesel prices have skyrocketed due to a collision of events, including the difficulty of getting oil out of the Middle East since the start of the Iran war, which has raised the price of all oil products.

Mr Trump also suggested that if he had been US president in 2022, "that war would have never started".

"There was no reason that war with Ukraine and Russia started. It started due to incompetence."

Mr Trump said the Ukrainian president had "lost 30 per cent" of the country in a "war that should have never started".

"I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president."

Independent estimates are that about 20 per cent of Ukraine's territory is under Russian control. 

British defence officials recently estimated that about half a million Russian soldiers had been killed in the war. There are no reliable recent estimates about how many Ukrainians have died.

Twenty people killed in Russian bombing in Ukraine

Mr Trump's extraordinary intervention came after Russian strikes killed at least 20 people in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday, local time.

Three children were among those killed when Russian aerial bombs hit residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said. At least 18 people were wounded.

Russia and Ukraine are locked in a long-range aerial war while their armies remain largely deadlocked on the front line, more than four and a half years since Moscow's full-scale invasion.

Ukraine is struggling to counter escalating Russian bombardments that have killed more than 60 people over the past four days.

Anger in Kyiv at Trump's deal with Putin

"Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X.

He said every additional billion dollars Russia earned from exports would help pay for weapons components, drone upgrades, missile production and the recruitment of mercenaries, and that Moscow would only be ready to stop when its ability to fight diminished.

Mr Zelenskyy said Ukraine was coordinating steps to counter the extra revenue Russia would receive, and that he had spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron about shoring up air defences, warning of an increased risk of further missile strikes in the coming days.

Mr Trump announced on Friday that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel, followed by an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons "immediately thereafter." 

Russia will deliver an additional 3 million tons "within a short period of time" after that, he wrote.

In Kyiv, people gathered at a memorial to fallen soldiers on Independence Square greeted the deal with a mix of anger and resignation.

"Trump has once again shown his true face," Oleksandr Petrenko, 26, said. 

"He didn't care about the situation, the shelling or the destruction of our homes. All he's interested in is oil or the fuel prices and how much Americans have to pay."

For Oksana Yakunina, a financial adviser from the central city of Kropyvnytskyi, the announcement "didn't really come as a surprise".

"Trump has been working with Putin for a long time," she told The Associated Press.

European allies question US-Russia deal

Ukraine's European allies also expressed dismay at the deal and said they stood by their commitment to sanctions.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Stockholm regretted the agreement, "as energy revenues are central to the Russian war chest," and noted that the European Union would adopt its most comprehensive sanctions package yet on Monday, with 1,600 listings targeting Russia's military-industrial complex.

The German government "remains committed to the sanctions imposed on Russia and is working with its European partners on further sanctions," spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said, adding that support for Ukraine "remains unwavering".

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski questioned whether Russia could deliver at all.

Citing his embassy's reports of fuel shortages even in Moscow, and "serious sources" saying Ukraine has damaged about half of Russia's refining capacity, he asked on X: "So where will the surpluses for export come from?"

Mr Trump's announcement was in stark contrast to a sweeping Russia sanctions law he signed last month that aimed at clamping down on the oil and gas revenues that fuel Russia's war against Ukraine.

He announced the deal as his envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Ukrainian officials in Miami on Friday to discuss a proposal to end the war.

Speaking about Friday's announcement, a senior Ukrainian official told AP the Ukrainian side was not aware of the deal before the announcement.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to discuss the issue publicly, said the diesel deal announcement was not tied to anything under discussion in Florida.

He confirmed the Ukrainian delegation had left Florida and was on its way back to Ukraine.