History: Volodymyr Zelensky has repaired his relationship with Donald Trump in recent months but the latest incident could strain relations (AFP)
Donald Trump has said ‘it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president’ and accused Volodymyr Zelensky’s of ‘making problems for the world’ after a shocking fallout over the US-Russia diesel deal.
Mr Zelensky was ‘blindsided’ when Mr Trump announced an agreement to buy almost two million tonnes of Russian oil. Kiev fears the move could add over £3billion to Vladmir Putin’s war effort.
The Ukraine president branded the move ‘weak’ and ‘unworthy’,with Ukraine devastating a Russian oil facility shortly after the announcement.
Now Mr Trump has hit out at Mr Zelensky,blaming Ukraine’s strikes on Russia’s oil refineries for surging worldwide prices.
Response: Ukraine hit a Russian oil facility after the deal between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump was revealed (REUTERS)
Mr Trump said ‘he’d better damn well stop’ the attacks,and suggested Ukraine should ‘get a new leader who can make a deal’.
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Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.‘We said,“you can do whatever you want to Russia,don’t hit the refineries”,because that’s a world problem that’s caused,’ he said. ‘He could have made many deals and for some reason,he never does.’World diesel prices are at a record high,although America and Israel’s war on Iran and the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz is widely considered the main driver of soaring costs.The deal has been seen as a massive strategic win for Moscow,with Mr Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev described it as ‘iconic and historic’.He echoed Mr Trump’s call for a new Ukraine PM,saying the country ‘needs leadership actually focused on peace’.
Blaze: Ukraine hit Russia’s Novoshakhtinsk oil terminal was struck (Social media)Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022,with up to two million people killed or wounded so far.Overnight Russian strikes on Ukraine killed at least seven civilians and Mr Zelensky branded the Trump-Putin deal ‘weak’ and ‘unworthy’.He said: ‘Russia is weaker on the front lines than at any other time during the war. That is why Putin relies on terror.‘That is why he relies on attempts to reach backroom deals for one concession or another,to buy more time and opportunities for the war.‘Any weakening of sanctions against Russia without a clear and lasting de-escalation agreement with Russia is an obvious sign of weakness.’Ukraine hit the Yug Rusi oil-loading terminal in Rostov-on-Don with a massive drone strike.An enormous blaze was also photographed at the nearby Novoshakhtinsk oil terminal.
Aftermath: Firefighters extinguish a fire at a clinic after a Russian attack on Kharkiv (AF)
Two tankers in the Sea of Azov were also attacked,while a railway bridge used for transporting oil from Rostov-on-Don was damaged,with traffic halted.Polls suggest Mr Trump is facing disaster in midterm elections next month,with US voters furious at soaring prices caused by his war with Iran.Diesel prices have hit record levels,hammering struggling US haulage and agricultural companies.Mr Trump posted that the Russian deal will see 300,000 tons of diesel released immediately ‘to the American and global marketplace’,followed by 500,000 tons in November and another million after that.The move has been criticised by allies,while experts have questioned whether the quantities involved will make a difference to prices in America.
Support: Foreign secretary Ed Miliband with Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine last week (AFP)
The US consumes more than three million tonnes of diesel a day,more than the entire quantity it has agreed to let Moscow sell.Ukrainian former vice PM Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze compared the Trump-Putin deal to funding Al–Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.‘If we asked every single American would they be fine if Donald Trump was buying,say if it was available,diesel from Osama Bin Laden and they were fine with this then something is profoundly wrong with the United States of America,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s Today.‘It is an unacceptable and totally painful move on the part of the American president and it also goes against the interests of the US itself and the European community.’A UK government spokesman said it would continue ‘to maintain pressure on Russia through the toughest sanctions regime ever imposed by the UK,increasing the cost of Putin’s aggression and supporting efforts to secure a just and lasting peace’.
