Trump Says Ukraine Should Get a New President a Day After His Diesel Deal With Putin

On Saturday 10 October Donald Trump told reporters outside the White House that “it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.” He spoke a day after announcing that Russia would put diesel on world markets under a US licence, and hours after Russian strikes killed people in Zaporizhzhia, DW reported. Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin’s economic envoy, welcomed the remark on X. Berlin, Riga and Brussels spoke about the diesel decision.

Our earlier reports cover the announcement and the Axios account of the refinery requests. This one covers what has been said since.

Within a day Trump went from the diesel deal to the question of who should lead Ukraine. Dmitriev endorsed the idea on X. Germany, Latvia and the EU’s top diplomat said sanctions stay. Zelensky answered with a count of glide bombs.

Trump spoke to reporters as he left the White House on Saturday afternoon for a rally in Tennessee, the New York Post reported. According to DW, he said: “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a [peace] deal,” adding that “for some reason [Zelenskyy] never does.” He then said: “You’ve lost 30% of your country and you’ve had over a million people killed. … I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,” in the New York Post’s transcription.

On refineries he said he had told Zelensky: “do what you want, don’t hit refineries.” He added that Zelensky “wants to make problems for the world.” DW reported that on Friday he had said of Zelensky: “He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel.”

DW noted that independent estimates put the share of Ukrainian territory under Russian control at about 20%, not the 30% Trump cited.

Dmitriev, the Russian presidential envoy, posted on X, in DW’s report: “President Trump joins the many who believe that Ukaine needs leadership actually focused on peace, not Zelenskyy’s warmongering.”

Zelensky’s reply on X, as DW reported it, did not mention the presidency. “Today, Russia expressed its thanks for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia,” he wrote. DW put the Saturday death toll in the Zaporizhzhia region at 20. Ukrinform quoted Zelensky later in the day on a call with the British prime minister, Andy Burnham, where he said the UK “will continue to ramp up sanctions pressure on Russia for its escalation.”

German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said in a statement that the federal government “remains committed to the decisions on sanctions against Russia and is working with its European partners on further sanctions.” Latvia’s foreign ministry, according to Ukrinform citing Delfi, said the decision sends Moscow a mixed signal and recalled that EU foreign ministers meet on 12 October to approve more sanctions. Kaja Kallas, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, wrote on X: “Suspending sanctions on Russian diesel provides Moscow with more revenues to wage war.” She added: “This is not the time to ease pressure on Russia, and Europe won’t.”

Representative Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, wrote on X on Friday: “I am concerned the lifting of sanctions on Russian oil will only fund the Kremlin’s war machine.” The New York Post carried the post.

On Friday Trump announced the deal, and DW reported a Treasury licence running to April 2027 and a first tranche of more than 300,000 tons of diesel. The same day Axios, as our earlier piece relayed, quoted a US official saying Zelensky had ignored half a dozen requests to stop hitting refineries. On Saturday the complaint about refineries became a remark about the Ukrainian presidency, with the same sentence carrying both: “don’t hit refineries” and “get a new president.”

According to Ines Pohl, chief of DW’s Washington bureau, the diesel deal is mainly about domestic politics: the midterms are weeks away and Trump is under pressure over energy prices. His own words run the same way. On Friday he spoke of “our farmers, our ranchers.” On Saturday he wanted a leader who “can make a deal.” DW added that Trump has blamed Zelensky for fuel prices for several weeks, while the price rise stems from his war with Iran.

Dmitriev’s wording, “not Zelenskyy’s warmongering,” sits next to Trump’s line that Zelensky “never does” make a deal. On Friday Dmitriev also reposted the Treasury announcement on Friday, writing that Russia-US cooperation on diesel and energy “will benefit the world.” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia was ready to start extra diesel deliveries from October.

None of the European statements quoted here mentions Trump’s remark about Zelensky. Kallas’s sentence names the cost: more revenue for Moscow. She also said EU foreign ministers are expected on Monday to approve the biggest sanctions package against Russia since the war began.

Zelensky’s Friday post, quoted by DW, called such relief “an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged.” On Saturday his figure was five glide bombs on residential buildings.

The first marker is the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on 12 October, where Kallas expects the largest sanctions package of the war. The second is whether Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travel to Moscow within two weeks, as the UAE daily Al Khaleej reported on Saturday. The third is whether Trump repeats the call for a new president at his Tennessee rally or in a post. So far Zelensky has answered the diesel deal only. None of the reports quoted here gives a date or a mechanism for a Ukrainian vote.