Zelensky says US-Russia diesel deal is a ‘birthday gift’ to Putin to ‘kill us, kill our children’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said the U.S.-Russia diesel deal is a “birthday gift” to allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to “kill us, kill our children.”

When asked by ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week” about his remark that the deal helps Putin as a “gift,” Zelensky explained that it “gives Putin money and he spends money only on this war. Kill us, kill our children.”

“I was this week in one small city –– they killed there, just attacked the building, no military goals –– no even something close to this building –– attacked, killed 22 people, around 60 [have] been wounded,” Zelensky continued. “And five children, five children, small children were killed.”

“And he has a lot of money, much money for this war,” he added.

Zelensky said the deal was a response to “what’s going on” and that “it’s a signal that Russia doesn’t feel real pressure. They want to continue” the war. He said that if the Trump administration wants Ukraine to stop launching strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure, “we are asking President Trump, give them signal, not attack energy infrastructure of Ukraine.”

“It’s fair deal. It’s not the best deal,” he added. “The best deal not –– not to have a war to stop Putin. But the first step is ceasefire, energy ceasefire. OK, if they want energy ceasefire, we are open for this. Don’t attack us. Don’t kill our children. We will stop attack your diesel. And I think it’s fair, fair deal.”

The deal would permit Russia to supply 300,000 tons of diesel to the U.S. and the global marketplace amid growing pressure to address concerns over rising energy costs due to global fuel shortages amid the Russia-Ukraine war and the U.S.-Israeli conflict in Iran.

But the deal’s announcement drew criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle . Several Republicans slammed it , with Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) saying on Friday that he supported the decision but not “to import it from Putin,” calling the Russian president a “butcher.”

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), former Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was “concerned the lifting of sanctions on Russian oil will only fund the Kremlin’s war machine — emboldening more violence and destruction, as we have seen in recent days.”

“This filthy deal will only aid and abet the same Putin who is helping the Iranians to target and try to kill American troops in the Middle East and who illegally and viciously invaded our ally Ukraine,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote on social media on Friday.