Zelensky unleashes on Trump as Russia diesel deal rallies Ukraine’s supporters

Kyiv’s allies, including those in President Trump’s circle, are rallying around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, pushing back against Trump’s diesel deal with Russia and threats to cut off weapons and intelligence sharing to Ukraine.

Zelensky, buoyed by the support, has unleashed criticism against Trump, calling the president “weak” for making a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And he’s challenging Trump’s narrative over high diesel prices, pointing to the U.S. war with Iran as the main driver.

“Everybody understands that the prices of diesel, it doesn’t depend on our attacks on diesel in Russia,” Zelensky said in an interview on America’s Newsroom on Fox News, addressing Trump’s favorite news channel during the morning hours, when he’s reportedly most likely to be watching.

“Everybody understands that it depends on the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz.”

Zelensky’s indignation followed Trump’s announcement on Friday that he was lifting sanctions on Russian diesel exports in an effort to lower prices in the U.S. — promoting the deal as a salve before the midterms as American voters fret over the cost of living.

Trump’s diesel deal drew immediate and wide-ranging pushback from Ukraine’s supporters.

Fox News host Mark Levin, who has a direct line to the president, said Putin is the actual obstacle to achieving peace in Eastern Europe and highlighted the Kremlin’s support for Iran in its conflict against the U.S.

“Putin started the war. Putin has refused all peace deals with absurd demands or outright rejection. Putin has caused the death of 1 million or more,” Levin wrote Monday morning on the social platform X. “Putin has nuclear missiles aimed at our country. Putin is providing support to the Iranian regime.”

Levin echoed the view coming from other people Trump pays attention to, like Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, who threw down over the weekend with co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy — who is married to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy — as she backed Trump’s criticism of Zelensky.

“It would be the biggest mistake of his administration to work with Russia,” Kilmeade said, speaking about the president.

“That is the modern Hitler of our generation,” he added of Putin. “He is the cause of all the problems in the region, and now, is helping Iran kill our guys and blow up our bases.”

Zelensky’s immediate, unsparing pushback triggered outrage from Trump. He repeated a call for Ukraine to hold elections, with Zelensky pushing back that Russia’s refusal to halt strikes against the country makes it impossible to hold a contest. Ukraine is also under martial law, making it illegal under the country’s constitution to hold an election.

Zelensky’s pushback was echoed by Ukrainian opposition politician Kira Rudik, leader of the Golos party, underscoring the country’s unity on the global stage, despite domestic disagreements over the Ukrainian president’s leadership.

“We are acting according to Ukrainian constitution, and it’s up to no other leader than Ukrainian people who and when we will be electing,” she said in an interview with Sky News.

But Trump retaliated further by having U.S. officials over the weekend call European capitals and Kyiv, threatening to cut off intelligence sharing and weapons delivery through Europe if Ukraine refuses to stop striking Russian oil refineries.

A European official confirmed to The Hill the pressure campaign, which was first reported by the Financial Times.

The majority of U.S.-supplied weapons to Ukraine are provided through European purchases of American munitions under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL).

PURL-supplied weapons and U.S. intelligence sharing make it possible for Ukraine to hit Russia’s energy infrastructure and other high-value targets deep in the country — a strategy Zelensky defends as crucial in the face of Russia’s energy warfare against Ukraine.

On Sunday, Trump announced a sudden energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, although the Kremlin has not confirmed it will abide by the agreement. Hours later, the Russian military continued firing at Ukrainian infrastructure, hitting a power plant in Kharkiv and a gas production facility.

Ukraine was apparently caught off guard by the news, but Zelensky has said the country is willing to halt strikes when Russia does.

“When we speak about energy ceasefire, it means only one thing, that they don’t attack our energy infrastructure, and we don’t respond on their energy infrastructure,” he said. “This is called energy ceasefire.”

Russian strikes against Ukraine’s electricity grid, on top of other civilian infrastructure, is an effort to plunge the country into cold and darkness with winter fast approaching.

Ukrainians endured Russian strikes the previous winter with ingenuity — filling hot water bottles to keep warm and adding extra blankets at home — on top of international and government assistance, providing generators and heating tents with charging stations for cellphones and electronics.

Ukraine is warning that Russia is escalating that strategy this winter to break Ukraine’s resolve in its defense. With the full-scale war now in its fourth year, Ukraine has seized important battlefield gains over Russia, which led to key assistance from Trump.

This includes the president’s offer over the summer to grant Ukraine rights to co-produce Patriot missile interceptors — key air defense munitions that have been depleted amid the U.S. war with Iran — and Trump’s greenlighting of the Russia sanctions bill, signing it into law in September.

But Putin is projecting Russian dominance on the battlefield over Ukraine in an effort to convince the Trump administration that Russia is in a strong position and that Ukraine must make concessions.

Putin’s analysis of the battlefield is “so far from reality as to resemble hallucinations,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) wrote in an analysis on Oct. 2, following a speech Putin gave at the Valdai Discussion Club the day before.

The ISW called Putin’s claims “absurd” and part of a cognitive warfare strategy to falsely portray Russian advances sweeping across the battlefield. The ISW added that it cannot determine whether Putin actually believes his claims or is relying on false information from briefers who are incentivized to provide a positive report.

A culture of lying is “deeply ingrained in the Russian military command structure,” the ISW wrote.