Trump says he no longer wants to deal with Zelensky, suggests peace deal could exclude Ukraine's current leader
In an interview with Newsmax on 15 October, US President Donald Trump said he does not want to deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling him "not the person we should be dealing with" and claiming Zelensky is unwilling to negotiate with Russia. Trump said any eventual peace agreement would be reached without the current Ukrainian leader, renewed calls for elections in Ukraine, and criticised Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries, while arguing Kyiv must make concessions given Russia's larger mobilisation base.
Key points
- Trump told Newsmax on 15 October that he does not want to deal with Zelensky, calling him "not the person we should be dealing with."
- Trump said he is "not a big fan" of Zelensky and that it is harder to negotiate with him than with Vladimir Putin.
- Trump suggested that if a peace deal is reached, it will be without Zelensky as Ukraine's leader.
- Trump repeated his call for presidential elections in Ukraine and questioned Zelensky's public support.
- Trump criticised Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries as a "shame" that only raises world oil prices, urging Zelensky to stop.
- Trump argued Zelensky must make concessions to Putin because Russia can lose a million men and still have millions more in reserve.
- Trump blamed the root cause of the war on Barack Obama's presidency and repeated his claim that a full-scale war could have been avoided if he had been US president in 2020.
Why it matters
The remarks amount to a public escalation of personal pressure by the US president on Ukraine's wartime leader, and include an unprecedented call from Washington for presidential elections in a country at war. By suggesting a future deal with Russia could be reached without Zelensky, Trump has raised open questions about whether the US would continue to recognise the Ukrainian president as its primary counterpart. The renewed criticism of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries also keeps a live point of friction between Kyiv and the White House in focus.
What happened
In a 15 October interview with Newsmax, US President Donald Trump said he does not want to deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, describing him as "not the person we should be dealing with" and saying he is "not a big fan" of him. Trump claimed that Zelensky does not actually want to negotiate with Russia, despite saying otherwise, and argued that it is harder to deal with Zelensky than with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said that if any peace agreement is ultimately reached, it will not include the current Ukrainian leader, and reiterated that presidential elections should be held in Ukraine to install new leadership. Trump also criticised Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil refineries as a "shame" that only raises world oil prices, urging Zelensky to stop while saying he wants the same from Putin. He framed the conflict in terms of Russia's vastly larger mobilisation potential, saying Russia could lose a million men and still have millions more in reserve, and therefore that Zelensky must make concessions. Trump also blamed the war's root cause on Barack Obama's presidency and repeated his long-standing claim that the full-scale war could have been avoided had he been US president in 2020.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian-language outlets uniformly lead with Trump's personal rejection of Zelensky as a negotiating partner, framing his comments as direct criticism of Zelensky's negotiating style and as renewed US pressure on Ukraine over strikes on Russian oil refineries. Several Ukrainian articles emphasise Trump's statement that it is easier to deal with Putin than with Zelensky as a notable reversal in US rhetoric. Background sections in Ukrainian reporting foreground Putin's June 2024 ultimatum demanding Ukrainian withdrawal from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, as well as the Trump administration's prior push for Ukrainian territorial concessions and the abandonment of NATO membership aspirations. Ukrainian coverage also notes Zelensky's earlier comments to the Financial Times that the ban on striking Russian oil refineries had been lifted.
How international sources describe it
The single non-Ukrainian source in the synthesis, an English-language Azerbaijani agency report, leads on Trump's call for elections in Ukraine and on his claim that Zelensky does not want to end the war. The international report frames Trump's remarks primarily as a political demand for new leadership in Kyiv, rather than as commentary on the bilateral dynamics of US–Ukraine–Russia negotiations.
Background
In June 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an ultimatum as a precondition for talks: full Ukrainian withdrawal from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts, including areas never controlled by Russian forces. The Trump administration has repeatedly pushed Kyiv, in public statements and in proposed peace plans, to accept territorial concessions to the Kremlin and to drop NATO membership aspirations. Trump had previously claimed the full-scale war could have been avoided had he been US president in 2020. He had also previously asked Zelensky to refrain from striking Russian oil refineries; according to the Newsmax host, Ukraine resumed such attacks on 15 October, with Zelensky telling the Financial Times that the ban had been lifted.