President Donald Trump’s feud with Ukraine’s president just got a lot uglier.
Trump accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of not wanting to end the war in a Truth Social post on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026.
In the same post, Trump said Zelensky is targeting Russian diesel refineries “knowing that these attacks are seriously hurting the world diesel markets, including those in the United States.” He added, “He could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now.”
Trump, 80, also defended his decision to waive Russian sanctions, saying he does not want to drive Russia “away from the bargaining table.” He signed an executive order waiving the sanctions on Friday, Oct. 16.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a three-way summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump to discuss ending the war, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Trump claims he is engaged in negotiations to end the Russia–Ukraine war that are making “great progress.”
Trump Says Zelensky Is Harder to Deal With Than Putin
Trump said in a Newsmax interview on Thursday night, Oct. 15, that he finds Zelensky more difficult to deal with than Putin. “No, I’m not a big fan of Zelensky,” he said. “They’ve destroyed that country.”
Trump also said in that interview, “Putin hates Zelensky, and Zelensky hates Putin.” He said the two leaders “would like to see it end,” but added, “I find Zelensky to be more difficult to deal with than Putin.”
Zelensky, 48, tore up the “energy ceasefire” Trump had declared on Truth Social on Sunday, Oct. 11. He told the Financial Times, in an interview published Thursday, Oct. 15, that the block on hitting refineries was over. “We’re done,” he said.
Ukrainian forces had held off striking Russian energy sites for three days under pressure from Washington before the strikes resumed. They hit an oil refinery in Russia’s western Ryazan region the same day.
Zelensky attacked Trump personally in the Financial Times interview over his dealings with authoritarian leaders. He said leaders who hold power for 20, 30 or 40 years strike Trump as very strong. “He speaks about it openly and loudly that he loves such people and he respects such people,” Zelensky told the newspaper.
The split between Washington and Kyiv is the worst since February 2025. Trump and Vice President JD Vance dressed down Zelensky in the Oval Office then, accusing him of not being grateful enough for American support.
Ukraine Hits Back at Russia’s Refineries
Russia’s Defense Ministry said Ukraine attacked the Ryazan oil refinery with 69 drones and four Flamingo cruise missiles, and claimed all were shot down. The ministry said “a fire broke out at the refinery as a result of falling drone debris.”
Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov said classes were canceled in 14 schools and 25 kindergartens in Ryazan on Oct. 15 because of “a mass drone attack on the region.” Malkov said a warehouse and vehicles at another Ryazan enterprise were damaged.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to Zelensky’s announcement by saying there had been no moratorium on Ukraine’s part and that strikes on Russian refineries continued throughout. “There is nothing new here,” he said. He again accused Zelensky of “not wanting to make peace.”
Trump’s Allies Turn on Zelensky
Trump’s loyalists rounded on Kyiv after the refinery strikes. Mike Cernovich, a right-wing social media personality, wrote on X that taxpayers had handed Zelensky more than $250 billion. Cernovich wrote that Trump only wanted diesel prices to fall a dollar or two before the midterms.
Rogan O’Handley, a conservative commentator who posts as DC Draino, shared the post and urged Trump to retaliate. Steve Cortes, a former Trump adviser, asked on X how much American taxpayer money had gone to the Ukrainian leader.
Elon Musk, the owner of SpaceX and X, said in a post on Wednesday, Oct. 14, that it was time for Zelensky to go. Musk was responding to a clip of Zelensky’s interview with British journalist Piers Morgan.
White House officials told the Defense Department to slow Ukrainian access to SpaceX’s Starshield, the military-grade version of Musk’s Starlink service, according to two U.S. sources and a third Western official. It remains unclear which official made that call, and who passed it to the Pentagon.
Zelensky said the Trump administration had threatened to cut off intelligence sharing unless Ukraine stopped striking Russian energy sites. He said his forces lost early-warning systems for incoming missiles and that satellite coverage slowed. Trump denied cutting off the intelligence supply.
U.S. officials blamed bad weather for a missed missile warning, Politico reported. Zelensky said the slowdown “was not a technical problem, it was the will.” Musk said the network belongs to the U.S. government, and that the U.S. military, and ultimately the president, set limits on its speed and use. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that Starshield was working again, but only for drones moving slower than 100 mph. The speed cap was still in place on Friday, Oct. 16, and Ukraine was negotiating with the Pentagon and SpaceX to lift it, the Associated Press reported.
Putin’s forces bombed energy facilities in Kharkiv and Kyiv after Trump’s ceasefire announcement. Russian attacks killed at least 15 people in Ukraine by Thursday, Oct. 15. Drone strikes on Friday, Oct. 16, killed at least eight more people and cut power to hundreds of thousands, Reuters reported.
Zelensky announced Thursday that an overnight Ukrainian strike destroyed Russian Su-34 warplanes at an air base in Russia’s Voronezh region. Reports put the number destroyed at four to six. He vowed to keep attacking targets inside Russia.
The Diesel Deal Behind the Fight
Trump announced a deal on Friday, Oct. 9, for Russian diesel: 300,000 tons immediately, with millions more promised. The United States suspended its restrictions on Russian diesel. The deal’s stated purpose was a scramble to bring down fuel costs driven by his own war on Iran.
Trump said on Saturday, Oct. 10, that it was “time for Ukraine to get a new president,” as the deal drew global backlash. Voters rank the conflict and its effect on prices among their top concerns ahead of the Nov. 3 House and Senate races. Democrats led Republicans by 9 points among likely voters in an NBC News polling average in late September.
Fuel shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply, and Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have attacked ships near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.
Putin launched his full-scale invasion in 2022. His forces have bombed Ukraine for more than four and a half years.
