Trump says Zelensky harder to deal with than Putin as energy truce frays
Donald Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is "more difficult to deal with than [Vladimir] Putin". He made the remarks in an interview with US outlet Newsmax on Thursday evening, according to BBC.
Trump said "Zelensky is not a good guy for us to deal with" and claimed he does not want to settle. He said "I'm not a big fan of Zelenskyy". He also said "Putin hates Zelensky, and Zelensky hates Putin."
Trump called Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries a "disgrace". He said the strikes are making the world oil price higher.
The comments came as Zelensky was in Brussels to meet European leaders. He had paused strikes on Russian energy targets for three days at Trump's request for an energy ceasefire, a temporary halt to attacks on energy sites. Zelensky said on Thursday that strikes on Russian refineries would resume because Moscow had never stopped.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Russia did not respect Trump's energy ceasefire "not a single minute". Zelensky arrived at the Brussels summit flanked by von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.
Von der Leyen said the EU has to increase sanctions, economic penalties intended to pressure Moscow, and will not lift any sanctions unless Russia stops the war. Zelensky said he would hold Friday summit talks with the European Council and European Commission chiefs and the prime ministers of Hungary, Finland and Sweden.
Separately, several people were killed in an overnight Russian drone strike in Kharkiv, the regional governor said. At least 14 people were injured, regional governor Oleg Synegubov said.
The dispute over energy strikes follows a recently announced US deal to import 300,000 tonnes of Russian diesel to bring down fuel prices. Zelensky called the deal a gift to Putin.
