Exclusive: Zelensky tells Axios Trump's diesel deal with Putin "not fair and not honest"
Axios · LC · trust 51/100
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios in a phone interview on Friday that President Trump's decision to unilaterally lift sanctions on Russia and allow it to export diesel was "not fair and not honest." "You know, it looks like a happy birthday present for Putin. It looks absolutely terrible," Zelensky said in frustration, referring to the Russian president's birthday earlier this week. Why it matters: Trump's announcement after a call with Putin shocked Ukraine and many European governments and created a new crisis between the U.S. and its Western allies. During the 15-minute interview, Zelensky sounded exasperated and dismayed and even expressed a sense of betrayal by the news of the diesel deal. Trump was asked several times by reporters on Friday about Zelensky's criticism but declined to comment and said he was happy about the deal with Putin. Driving the news: Trump announced the deal with Putin as his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were meeting in Miami with the Ukrainian negotiating team along with senior diplomats from Germany, France, the UK, the EU and NATO to discuss new U.S. ideas for ending the war. Zelensky said he spoke several days ago with Witkoff about the need to continue efforts to reach a diplomatic breakthrough before winter and the midterm elections. "Steve proposed to meet in Florida. And of course I accepted to go there and speak about the possibilities of negotiations. The Americans said they have some ideas and we agreed to come to discuss," Zelensky said. At no point during his talks with Witkoff and Kushner did the U.S. suggest that a diesel deal with Russia was on the table, Zelensky stressed. He said he understood from Witkoff that the U.S. envoys planned to take messages from the Florida talks to the Russians and then potentially travel to Kyiv to try to seal a peace deal. Behind the scenes: Zelensky said that an hour before Trump's statement, his negotiators, who were meeting with Kushner and Witkoff in Florida, informed him that Trump planned to speak with Putin. They said an announcement regarding U.S. sanctions on Russia might be forthcoming, without elaborating. "It's not honest, really, because we tried to build our relations in the best way," he said. "It looks like that they used this opportunity to meet us from one side, and from the other side called Putin and negotiate this." What he's saying: The Ukrainian president said he would have supported easing sanctions on Russian energy if it was done in the context of a deal to halt attacks on energy facilities in Ukraine and Russia during the winter. "If the price is energy ceasefire, this negotiation is good," Zelensky said. But he argued that Trump presumably would have announced such a breakthrough if Putin had agreed to it. "What did [Trump] get? That he will have more diesel? For whom? More Russian diesel for Americans? It shows weakness of the world," Zelensky said. Zelensky compared the current deal to the Anchorage summit between Trump and Putin last year, which ended with the U.S. president agreeing to many of the Russian demands regarding the war in Ukraine without getting anything in return. "It looks like Alaska number two," he said. Between the lines: Despite his anger, Zelensky stopped short of saying the episode meant Washington could no longer mediate between Kyiv and Moscow. "It's not simple. We need the Americans," he said. "We need the Americans to try to stop this war." But he questioned whether rewarding Moscow without an apparent Russian concession would make further diplomacy more difficult. "This decision will not help us in any way," Zelensky said. "But what is bad, I think that this decision will not help Americans." What's next: Zelensky said he plans to speak with his negotiating team to get a full readout of its talks with Witkoff and Kushner. Zelensky said he also wanted to understand whether the diesel agreement was connected to a trip Trump's envoys planned to take to Russia. "If you allow them to export diesel, and you think before that you have to go to Russia to negotiate, it looks that you are buying this meeting," Zelensky said, while stressing that he did not know whether that was actually Trump's intention. "Maybe I'm not right," Zelensky said. "But it looks this way. Otherwise, why do it?"
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