October 12, 2026
Moscow welcomed US President Donald Trump’s call to elect a new president for Ukraine to succeed Volodymyr Zelensky, considering this position “pivotal and historic.”
In a post on the “X” platform on Saturday, the Russian presidential envoy for economic cooperation, Kirill Dmitriev, said that Trump “joins many who believe that Ukraine needs leadership that is truly focused on peace, not on the war policy pursued by Zelensky,” according to what was reported by Agence France-Presse.
The Russian position came in the wake of statements made by Trump to reporters at the White House, in which he called for a change in the Ukrainian leadership, criticizing Zelensky’s performance and obstructing the process of reaching an agreement to end the war. “I suggest they choose a new leader who is able to reach an agreement,” Trump said, adding that Zelensky “for some reason never does that,” stressing that “it is time for Ukraine to have a new president.”
In the same context, Trump criticized the Ukrainian attacks targeting Russian oil facilities, directing his speech to Zelensky by saying: “It would be better for him to stop.” This comes the day after the US President announced that he had reached an agreement with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to increase supplies of Russian diesel to global markets.
On the other hand, on Friday, Zelensky criticized the American decision to ease sanctions imposed on Russian diesel exports, describing it as “unfair and unfair.” “It looks like a happy birthday present for Putin. It looks very bad,” he said in a phone interview with Axios, referring to the Russian president’s birthday, which fell during the week.
It is noteworthy that the agreement announced by Trump includes a temporary suspension of US sanctions on the Russian diesel sector until April 2027, in exchange for immediate supplies exceeding 300,000 tons, in addition to the supply of another 500,000 tons next November.
