Trump brands Ukraine's refinery strikes 'a disgrace' and says Zelensky is harder to deal with than Putin

President Donald Trump has publicly sided with Vladimir Putin over Volodymyr Zelensky, calling Ukraine's resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries "a disgrace" in a Newsmax interview aired Thursday. Zelensky resumed the attacks after Russia repeatedly broke Trump's own energy ceasefire deal, leaving millions of Ukrainians without power. Trump accused Zelensky of driving up global oil prices, while declaring he finds Putin "more difficult to deal with" — then corrected himself to say Zelensky is the harder partner. Critics have accused Trump of "treason" for openly attacking the Ukrainian leader while defending Russia.

Zelensky had paused energy strikes for three days to comply with US wishes before resuming them after Russia continued bombing Ukrainian power stations.

Trump told Newsmax he is 'not a big fan of Zelensky' and suggested Ukraine cannot reach a settlement 'with him' — effectively calling for Zelensky's removal.

Zelensky accused Trump of 'betrayal' after the US cut intelligence sharing and weakened Starlink access, while Trump separately signed a deal buying Russian diesel.