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Kremlin Says It “Fully Agrees” With Trump on Zelensky as EU Leaders Pledge Support in Brussels

Peskov says Moscow fully agrees with Trump on Zelensky as EU leaders pledge support in Brussels. What each side said, and what Starlink shows.

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Illustration: a summit table with one chair turned away.AI-generated illustration (Google Gemini) for Silent Dossier
Karmalla AhmedDirector and Chief Editor4 min read
In this article

Context

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters on Friday that Moscow “fully agrees” with Donald Trump about Volodymyr Zelensky. The line came a day after Trump gave Newsmax his latest verdict on the Ukrainian president, and on the day European leaders met in Brussels for a summit where the language ran the other way.

The exchange continues a dispute the site has followed since Trump called Ukraine’s refinery strikes a “disgrace”.

Key takeaways

Peskov used the Kremlin’s daily briefing to endorse Trump’s reading that Zelensky is the obstacle to a settlement. The European Commission and the European Council presidents answered from Brussels the same day, with pledges of continued support. Zelensky had already said Ukraine’s pause on refinery strikes was over, and the Starlink restrictions imposed on Ukrainian military terminals overnight on 14 October were still a live grievance.

What was said

Trump spoke to Newsmax on Thursday evening, according to the BBC’s account. He said he was “not a big fan of Zelensky.” He added: “He doesn’t want to settle. He says he wants to settle, but he doesn’t.” He also said: “As you know, Putin hates Zelensky, and Zelensky hates Putin.”

Peskov spoke on Friday at the Kremlin’s daily press briefing. According to The Moscow Times, he said: “The fact that Zelensky doesn’t want to take responsibility and enter a peaceful settlement process is unambiguous.” Then: “Here, we fully agree with President Trump’s point of view.” The Moscow Times added that Putin reportedly demands Ukraine cede full control of the Donetsk region as a precondition for a ceasefire, a demand Kyiv has repeatedly rejected.

In Brussels on Friday, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, spoke about the energy ceasefire Trump announced last week. “We’ve seen that Russia did not respect it, not a single minute,” she told reporters at the summit, the BBC reported. Before the session she told Zelensky: “Russia is trying everything to destroy the energy and water infrastructure.” António Costa, president of the European Council, said “this is no time to withdraw support.” According to the BBC he did not name the United States.

Analysis

How the statements connect

The order of the day is the argument. Trump spoke on Thursday evening. Peskov repeated him on Friday, in almost the same terms: Zelensky does not want to settle, Zelensky will not take responsibility. The same day, Brussels was saying the opposite about the same man.

On ending his pause on refinery strikes he said: “The block is out. We’re done.” On Trump’s role he told Piers Morgan: “It’s painful when President Trump chooses one side, not our side,” Al Jazeera reported. The Kremlin has now endorsed the very sentence that Zelensky is complaining about.

Elon Musk wrote on X that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately” the president, the same article reported, and our own report on the restrictions sets out who said what. Andrius Kubilius, the EU defence commissioner, told a Politico conference in Brussels on Wednesday that Europe is “quite dependent on American space capabilities.” Marc DeVore of Chatham House told Reuters that for US early-warning satellites “there is nothing equivalent in Europe.” Bohdan Sas, co-founder of the Ukrainian defence start-up Buntar Aerospace, told Reuters that “you can’t rely solely on one solution that can be switched off.”

The support offered on Friday is political and financial. On Musk’s account the Starlink limits sit with the US military and the president, the same president whose view Peskov has just endorsed.

Analysis

Why does the Kremlin agree with Trump on Zelensky?

Peskov blamed Kyiv for the lack of a settlement, and Trump had said the same thing the night before. The Moscow Times set Peskov’s line beside Putin’s reported demand that Ukraine cede full control of Donetsk before a ceasefire, a demand Kyiv has repeatedly rejected. Bloomberg, cited by the same outlet, reported that Putin expects Russian forces to take the region by late February 2027.

Analysis

What was the dispute over refinery strikes?

Trump says Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refineries raise fuel prices. He announced a diesel arrangement with Russia, and Zelensky has argued the refineries finance the war. The earlier article on why Trump wants the strikes to stop covers the arrangement and the lawmakers’ objections. Von der Leyen’s remark that Russia did not respect the energy ceasefire for “a single minute” is the European answer to the other half of the bargain: Kyiv paused, and Moscow did not.

What to watch

Whether Zelensky tones down his public criticism of Trump. The Moscow Times cited the Financial Times as reporting that European officials plan to urge this in private. If he does not, expect the Kremlin to keep quoting Trump back at him.

Whether the Starlink limits are lifted in full. Ukrainian officials and their allies have given different answers since the restrictions began.

Whether Moscow changes its Donetsk demand. Bloomberg’s report puts the Kremlin’s own timetable at late February 2027.

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