He wrote about this on October 18 in a lengthy post on his Truth Social page, harshly criticizing the actions of the Ukrainian authorities and explaining his recent decisions to ease sanctions pressure on Russia. Channel 24 will summarize the key points.

What did Trump say about Ukraine and Zelenskyy?

In his statement, Trump called his decisions regarding Russia “very simple,” explaining that he is in the midst of peace negotiations and does not want to “foolishly push Russia away from the table.” According to him, significant progress has been made in the negotiations, particularly regarding hostages. In addition, he stated that Moscow allegedly provides almost no assistance to Iran, and he seeks to maintain this status quo, so imposing harsh sanctions is currently inadvisable.

The U.S. president devoted a separate section of his post to sharply criticizing Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump accused Ukraine of striking Russian oil refineries, which, in his view, is disrupting the global diesel fuel market and causing hardship for American farmers and businesses. In contrast, he praised Russia for supplying millions of barrels of cheap diesel to the world.

“Zelenskyy doesn’t care, and frankly, with all the money he’s getting from Europe – and that he used to get from the corrupt Joe Biden – he doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did,”
– Trump stated.

He added that two years ago, Zelenskyy supposedly could have struck a better deal than he has now, but now“his country is in ruins; he has lost significant portions of territory, as well as seas and oceans.” Moreover, the U.S. president is convinced that Ukraine’s male population has “dwindled, been wounded, or been killed.” Trump concluded his post with his now-traditional line: “I want this war to end!”

Against what backdrop are Trump’s ambiguous statements being made?

Donald Trump’s bombastic rhetoric has deep political and economic roots. This statement on October 18 appears to be an attempt to justify the lifting of tough sanctions against Russia – on Friday, October 13, he signed an executive order blocking the implementation of the bipartisan “Lindsey Graham Sanctions Act Against Russia and Iran” (Graham Act).

This bill, passed by the U.S. Congress by an overwhelming majority just three weeks ago, was intended to cut off Russia’s financial sources for waging war and imposed tariffs of up to 100% on goods from countries that are the largest buyers of Russian oil and gas. Trump granted Russia a complete exemption from these restrictions, stating that it was in the U.S. national interest.

This decision was also preceded by a “diesel deal” – Russia committed to immediately supplying more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel to the U.S. and global markets. It is worth recalling here that the real cause of the fuel crisis in the U.S. was the war against Iran, which the Trump administration itself launched in February 2026.

Another source of frustration for the White House was the breakdown of the so-called “energy truce.” On October 11, Trump announced that an agreement had been reached between Kyiv and Moscow, under which Ukraine would halt attacks on Russian oil refineries – and although it was Russia that continued its massive shelling of the Ukrainian power grid, Trump blames Ukraine for the breakdown of the agreement.

Against the backdrop of these events, another scandal has unfolded – centered on restrictions on military aid to Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly complained that the U.S. had blocked the transfer of intelligence data on Russian missile strikes and restricted the operation of the military version of Starlink (Starshield). And the situation surrounding all of this remains unclear.