Trump tells Ukraine to ‘get a new leader’ as he lashes out at Zelensky

DAILYMAIL.COM • 3h ago

By ALYSSA GUZMAN, US NEWS REPORTER 18:13 10 Oct 2026, updated 20:14 10 Oct 2026

Donald Trump has told Ukraine to ‘get a new leader’ just one day after he signed an oil deal with Vladimir Putin.

‘I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal,’ he told reporters outside the White House on Saturday.

‘He could have made many deals, and for some reason, he never does.’

It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hit a key oil hub hours after Trump blindsided him by agreeing to lift sanctions on Russian oil – just weeks before America goes to the polls in the mid-terms.

Trump announced on Friday a deal with Putin, which will see almost two million tons of Russian oil be imported to the US, as the president seeks to shore up his ratings amid rising fuel costs.

‘He better damn well stop,’ Trump told reporters.

He also stated the Russian and Ukrainian conflict started ‘due to incompetence’ on Zelensky’s part.

‘That’s a war that should have never started. And I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president,’ Trump said.

Trump has been facing increasing backlash from voters over the war with Iran, which has helped diesel prices soar from $3.68 per gallon a year ago to $6.28 by Friday.

Trump reportedly decided to seal the agreement with the Russian dictator after Zelensky did not agree to his requests to stop strikes on oil infrastructure.

A US official told Axios: ‘Zelensky is misreading the room. By continuing to hit refineries, he is eroding the good will that he has built with Trump over the last six months.’

Ukraine’s success at targeting the industry in Russia has caused a crisis for Putin, but the nation does still have surplus diesel it can spare.

In the immediate aftermath of the Trump-Putin call, the Kremlin staged a new strike on sleeping Ukrainian civilians in Zaporizhzhia killing seven including at least three children, all girls, with ten wounded and 16 ‘missing’.

It brings the total to almost 90 civilians killed by Russia in three days.

The diesel pact between Trump and Putin stunned Kyiv, with the Ukrainian leader accusing the US president of ‘weakness’ by caving in to Putin.

But Trump accused Zelensky of ignoring six pleas to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries, which were raising prices, especially for diesel in the US ahead of midterm elections, according to a report by Axios.

Twisting the knife, Putin’s foreign affairs aide, Yury Ushakov, said the one-and-a-half-hour call with Trump was so friendly ‘neither side wanted to hang up first.’

Trump said he was ‘ready to continue communicating with Vladimir Putin this evening, through the night, and into the next day.’

Zelensky hit back after admitting being blindsided by the US suspending sanctions to buy Russian diesel.

In devastating overnight strikes, he pummeled the key Yug Rusi oil-loading terminal in Rostov-on-Don, which handles petroleum products from the Novoshakhtinsk refinery.

There were fires at the key exporting hub with a 3.5-million-ton annual capacity after a 50-drone swarm.

A linked railway bridge in Rostov-on-Don was also damaged, with traffic halted in both directions, and two ships in the Sea of Azov were reportedly attacked.

Ukrainian officials defiantly threatened to keep striking Russian oil facilities.

Hitting back at Trump, Zelensky said overnight: ‘Russia is weaker on the front lines than at any other time during the war. That is why Putin relies on terror.

‘That is why he relies on attempts to reach backroom deals for one concession or another, to buy more time and opportunities for the war.

‘Any weakening of sanctions against Russia without a clear and lasting de-escalation agreement with Russia is an obvious sign of weakness.’

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