Trump Calls For Zelenskyy To Be Ousted In Furious Attack On Ukrainian President

Donald Trump has called for Ukraine to replace Volodymyr Zelenskyy as president in an explosive intervention.

It comes after the Ukrainian leader criticised his American counterpart for striking a new deal to buy Russian diesel – undoing years of united western sanctions meant to put pressure on Vladimir Putin.

Zelenskyy called the new agreement a gift to Moscow, pointing out that it would help fund Putin’s ongoing war against Ukraine.

He said it was an “absolutely terrible” idea, warning it was “not fair and not honest”.

The US president hit back by telling reporters outside the White House that Zelenskyy “wants to make problems for the world” by authorising attacks on Russian refineries.

“He’d better damn well stop,” Trump said. “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal. He could have made many deals and he never does.”

The American president has repeatedly tried to negotiate a settlement between Russia and Ukraine, but often suggesting Ukraine should give up more land to its aggressor in the pursuit of peace – a red line for Kyiv.

This is Trump’s strongest attack on Zelenskyy since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office in February 2025, when the US president told the Ukrainian leader that he did “not hold the cards”.

Ukraine was scheduled to have a presidential election in 2024 but martial law – in place due to the Russian invasion – suspended all elections.

Trump also told reporters last night: “Let me go a step further: if I were president [in 2022], you never would have had that war. That war would have never started.

“There’s no reason for that war with Ukraine and Russia started. It started due to incompetence. It should have never started.”

The war started because Putin invaded Ukraine in a land grab back in 2022.

Trump continued: “You wouldn’t have lost 30% of your country already. You’ve lost 30% of your country and you’ve had over a million people killed.

“Between the two of them, over two million people killed.

“That’s a war that should have never started and I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.”

Trump’s numbers do not align with official statistics.

Putin occupies almost 20% of Ukraine’s sovereign land. British intelligence estimates half a million Russians have been killed since the conflict began.

A CSIS report from July estimates up to 150,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in action.

The UN estimated in June that 17,257 civilians have been killed since the war began in 2022. 

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