Ukraine Shrugs Off Trump Call to Ditch Zelensky for Energy Strikes
New York Times · LC · trust 55/100
President Trump lashed out at President Volodymyr Zelensky for striking Russian oil refineries. Mr. Zelensky said he‘ll stop — if Russia does too.
Listen · 3:23 min Share full article President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine at a World War II memorial ceremony in Kyiv on Tuesday. Credit... Genya Savilov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images By Maria Varenikova Dzvinka Pinchuk and Ivan Nechepurenko
Mr. Trump has called out Mr. Zelensky for the strikes, blaming them for rising global energy prices. Ukraine “needs a new president,” he said on Saturday.
Mr. Zelensky on Sunday shot back that Ukraine is ready to stop striking Russian refineries, but only if Russia stops striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure. “Any de-escalation steps must be reciprocal and backed by real guarantees,” he wrote on X.
On Saturday, after Mr. Trump made his comments, Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said that Mr. Zelensky “has the support of the Ukrainian people, and they have the right to decide.”
“Statements from abroad only confirm that he is doing his job well,” he added.
Ukrainians have grown accustomed to Mr. Trump’s whiplash foreign policy. Mr. Zelensky’s comment came after the Trump administration lifted sanctions on Russian diesel sales , saying the move would lower prices.
The decision will also undermine U.S. energy sanctions. Several European countries have said they have no plans to offer Russia relief.
Online, some Ukrainians bristled at the suggestion that Washington or Moscow should dictate who leads their country, but largely dismissed Mr. Trump’s remark as domestic politicking before the midterm elections in the United States.
“Trump is trying to save his own skin ahead of the elections,” Iryna Tsariuk, an activist from Odesa, wrote in a social media post. “He doesn’t care at all about Ukraine or the fact that Russia killed more than 70 people on Wednesday and Thursday,” she added.
Russian missile and drone strikes continued overnight Saturday to Sunday, wounding eight people in Kyiv, the capital, and killing an 11-year-old boy in Dnipro, a city in central Ukraine, according to local authorities. After Russian strikes on energy and water infrastructure, Kyiv authorities urged residents to stock up on water.
“Russia is leveling Ukrainian cities, starving people in Oleshky, killing entire families in one attack, but for some reason you won’t find Tweets that Putin has gone too far,” wrote Yarema Dukh, political analyst and communications expert, referring to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
If anything, the rebuke from the U.S. president has the potential to unite Ukrainians, even those who oppose Mr. Zelensky. "There is nothing in the world that could boost Zelensky’s approval rating today more than Trump’s childish outbursts at him, screaming that he needs to be replaced,” said Mykhailo Lavrovskyi, a Ukrainian serviceman, on X.
In Russia, Ukrainian drones on Sunday hit another major data center operated by Yandex, Russia’s technology giant. Located in the Vladimir region east of Moscow, it was the company’s third data center attacked in Russia over the past four days, prompting widespread internet disruptions across the country.
Maria Varenikova covers Ukraine and its war with Russia.
Ivan Nechepurenko covers Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia. He divides his reporting time between Moscow and Tbilisi, Georgia.
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