President Donald Trump said in an interview aired on Oct. 15 that the war between Russia and Ukraine will not be settled while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains in office.
Trump said Zelenskyy was difficult to negotiate with.
“Zelenskyy is not a good guy for us to deal with,” Trump told Newsmax.
“If they’re going to end up with a settlement of some kind, they’re not going to do it with him. He doesn’t want to settle. He says he wants to settle, but he doesn’t.
Trump said the animosity between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin had complicated negotiations.
“As you know, Putin hates Zelenskyy, and Zelenskyy hates Putin. And when you have that kind of hatred, it’s very hard to get something settled,” he said.
“Ukraine has lost so many of its men, and Russia, too. But Russia is a massive country. Russia has millions of people, too.”
Trump blamed previous U.S. administrations and diplomatic failures for the conflict.
“Biden gave him hundreds of billions of dollars, billions and billions of dollars,” Trump said, referring to military and financial assistance provided to Ukraine under former President Joe Biden.
He said the dispute began under former President Barack Obama when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
“Crimea is the most valuable part by far of Ukraine,” Trump said. “I’m a real estate developer. … I know good land.”
Asked whether the conflict would end before he leaves office, Trump responded, “It should end soon.”
“I think they actually both would like to see it end,” he said.
Trump also criticized Ukraine’s renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries.
“Now, if you tell me that Zelenskyy is again shooting at refineries, all he’s doing is making the world oil price higher. I think that’s a disgrace,” he said.
“There’s plenty of other targets they don’t have to hit. There are a lot of targets that you can hit, but when you shoot at diesel refineries where you make, you know, diesel, and we need that, and the world needs that, then he’s not doing a good service for the world.”
Russia is expected to ship diesel to the strained global market, with the United States temporarily lifting sanctions on the country over its war with Ukraine to help ease prices for Americans.
The agreement was reached after speaking with Putin on Oct. 9, Trump said in a Truth Social post.
In an Oct. 11 Truth Social post, Trump said that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to what he described as an “energy ceasefire,” telling them “not to break it.”
However, Zelenskyy said on Oct. 12 that Ukrainian energy infrastructure was hit by Moscow’s air strikes.
In an Oct. 14 interview with Piers Morgan Uncensored, Zelenskyy accused Trump of taking Russia’s side in the conflict.
“It’s painful when President Trump chooses one side, not our side,” Zelenskyy said. “If you are in the middle, you have to stay in the middle.”
Asked by Morgan whether he felt betrayed by Trump, Zelenskyy said: “Really, yes … but it’s a little bit more complicated than just my emotions or my feelings.
“It’s a pity we are losing [a] strong partner.”
He added, “We are not selling our country … it’s not about business for us, it’s just our life and this is our country.”
Reuters contributed to this report.
We had a problem loading this article. Please enable javascript or use a different browser. If the issue persists, please visit our help center.