The US president defended his decision to ease sanctions, blaming Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries for rising energy prices
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky does not want to end the conflict with Russia and probably never did, US President Donald Trump has said, citing the billions in aid Kiev has received from the West as among the reasons.
In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump defended his decision to ease the sanctions on Moscow, while reiterating his claim that Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries have contributed to rising energy prices.
“Zelenskyy doesn’t care, and frankly, with all of the money that Europe is famously giving him, and that Crooked Joe Biden gave him in the past, he doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did. He could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now,” Trump wrote.
He added that Ukraine was “in shambles,” describing its male population as “low, wounded, and/or dead.”
Trump lifted sanctions on Russian diesel exports earlier this month to curb rising energy prices ahead of the US midterm elections. On Friday, he suspended the tariffs targeting major buyers of Russian oil and gas.
Read more Zelensky knows peace deal would end his regime – Lavrov (VIDEO)
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he is focused on brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine and does not want to “do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table.”
Ukraine defied Trump’s demand to halt strikes on Russian energy facilities, launching a drone attack on an oil terminal in St. Petersburg overnight on Sunday and setting it on fire.
Zelensky said he felt betrayed by Trump. According to US media reports, Ukrainian officials were blindsided by his diesel deal with Russia.
“I hope that he will change his decisions, because I think that it’s all mistakes, and it will not help us, and it will not help [the] United States,” he told NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday.
On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov 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. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine “cannot alter the course of history” by intensifying strikes deep inside Russian territory.
Russia has long accused Ukraine’s Western backers, including former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, of sabotaging the 2022 peace talks in Istanbul. Johnson has denied the allegations.
Zelensky, whose five-year presidential term expired in 2024, has refused to call a new election, citing martial law, which was imposed shortly after the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022.
He has since argued that an election can only be held after a months-long ceasefire. Russia has warned that Ukraine could use a prolonged truce to replenish its military and has offered to suspend attacks only on election day.
Ukraine has been rocked by a series of high-profile corruption scandals since 2025, including an alleged $100 million kickback scheme in its embattled energy sector that implicated Zelensky’s former business partner, Timur Mindich. His government has also faced political controversies, including attempts to curb the powers of Western-backed anti-corruption agencies and the abrupt dismissal of popular Defense Minister Mikhail Fyodorov in July, which sparked protests in Kiev.