Trump says he’s ‘not a big fan’ of Zelensky after new strikes on Russian oil refineries

Moscow carried out strikes on Kyiv for days after Trump announced the energy ceasefire on Sunday. Now the truce is no more.

“Zelensky is not a good guy for us to deal with,” Trump said, blaming former President Joe Biden for giving Zelensky billions of dollars in aid.

Trump also blamed former President Barack Obama for forcing Ukraine to let Russia annex the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Trump frequently points to the annexation as the moment that Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t respect the United States because there wasn’t going to be a strong American response to Moscow’s seizure of the strategic peninsula at the time.

Trump has been trying to end the Russia-Ukraine war since he returned to the White House last year, but the task has proven to be particularly challenging due to the deep-seated hatred between Putin and Zelensky.

“When you have that kind of hatred, it’s very hard to get something settled,” Trump said. But if there is going to be a settlement, Trump believes Zelensky shouldn’t be involved because he “doesn’t want to settle.”

Trump hopes the conflict will end soon, saying both leaders want the same result. However, the president noted how he finds it “more difficult to deal with” Zelensky than Putin.

Trump has been more charitable to Putin recently, drawing sharp bipartisan criticism as he distances himself from Zelensky. Last weekend, Trump called on Zelensky to step down and let Ukraine hold an election for a new president. Zelensky said he will organize a presidential election if Russia agrees to a two-month ceasefire. Moscow remains opposed to the idea.

Trump and Zelensky have also been at odds over reports of the U.S. allegedly cutting off Ukraine’s access to intelligence and Starshield, SpaceXAI’s military-grade Starlink satellite network. The defense restrictions hampered Ukraine’s ability to protect itself from Russian strikes.

SpaceXAI CEO Elon Musk said that while the aerospace company developed the Starshield system, it is owned by the Department of War. Therefore, any Starshield restrictions imposed on Ukraine would be up to the Trump administration.

The order to limit the satellite network came from inside the White House, Reuters reported on Thursday based on two U.S. officials and a Western official. It is unclear whether Trump gave the order.

BRITISH DEFENSE SECRETARY TO ASK HEGSETH ABOUT STARSHIELD OUTAGE AS UK TRIES TO ‘BRIDGE’ US AND UKRAINE ‘BACK TOGETHER’

Elsewhere in the Newsmax interview, Trump echoed the comments of a Ukrainian woman who slammed Zelensky for letting the war persist.

“President Zelensky has destroyed our country,” he said, recalling the woman’s words. “President Zelensky has taken our men away from us. Our men have no legs, no arms. Our men are, in many cases, in mental institutions or they’re dead.”