Trump says it's time for Ukraine to get a new president who will make a deal with Russia

US President Donald Trump believes it is time for Ukraine to get a new president who could strike a deal with Russia.

Source: Trump in a comment to journalists in Maryland, broadcast by DWS News

Quote: "I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president... I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal, because he could have made many deals and, for some reason, he never does."

Details: Trump claimed that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could have ended the war many times but has not.

"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 wants to make problems for the world," Trump said of Zelenskyy. He further accused the Ukrainian president of disrupting diesel supplies to US farmers by striking refineries, saying Russia supplies much of the world's diesel and that Zelenskyy should stop.

Background:

• On 9 October, US President Donald Trump said he had had a "highly successful discussion" with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and reached an agreement on lifting sanctions on Russian diesel fuel.
• Zelenskyy strongly criticised Trump's actions, describing the easing of sanctions as an "absolutely terrible" move. He stressed that this "birthday present for Putin" will provide Russia with billions more to continue the war.
• Zelenskyy said Ukraine's negotiating team in the US had been used as "cover" while Trump and Putin reached agreements on fuel supplies.
• Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian leader, stated that in a phone call with Trump, Putin rejected the possibility of peace talks, stressing that Russia will continue military operations until it has achieved "all its objectives".
• It was reported that negotiations in Miami between representatives of the US, Ukraine, European countries and NATO on ways to de-escalate and end the war had ended earlier than planned.
• On 10 October, Dmytro Lytvyn, the president's communications adviser, stated that the Ukrainian delegation that took part in the negotiations in the US is already on its way home.

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