President Donald Trump said Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, that it is time for someone other than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate for Ukraine.
Trump, 80, told reporters at a White House gaggle, “Zelensky is a man that should have had this war settled a long time ago. If he would have listened to me, he would have made a much better deal a long time ago, and he’d have a million people living from his side.”
He added: “I think it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine, because what’s happened? Very little land has moved, but a million people, a tremendous number of people, are dead.”
Trump also said on Truth Social that Zelensky “doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did,” and that Ukraine is “in shambles.”
Reporters asked Trump on Oct. 19 about a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Xi. “No, but I would do it not so much for Ukraine because Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine,” he said. He said the subject would be “nuclear weapons and denuclearization.” Asked about meeting without Zelensky present, he said, “Whatever I can do to end the war, whether somebody’s there or not.”
Putin has proposed meeting Trump and Xi on the sidelines of the APEC forum in Shenzhen, China, next month, according to people familiar with the Russian and Chinese discussions, in an account reported Oct. 19.
Zelensky’s “We’re Done” on Refineries
Zelensky, 48, tore up the “energy ceasefire” that Trump had declared on Truth Social. Ukrainian forces hit an oil refinery in Russia’s western Ryazan region the same day, Oct. 15.
Zelensky had held off striking Russian energy sites for three days under pressure from Washington. He said the block on hitting refineries was over. “We’re done,” Zelensky said in an interview with the Financial Times published Thursday, Oct. 15.
Zelensky attacked Trump personally over his dealings with authoritarian leaders. He said Trump sees leaders who have been in power 20, 30 or 40 years as very strong. “He speaks about it openly and loudly that he loves such people and he respects such people,” Zelensky told the newspaper.
Trump said, “No, I’m not a big fan of Zelensky. He destroyed that country,” in an interview with Newsmax on Thursday night, Oct. 15.
Trump said in the same interview, “Putin hates Zelensky, and Zelensky hates Putin.” He also said: “It should end soon. I think they both would actually like to see it end. But I find Zelensky more difficult to deal with than Putin.”
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 that month, accusing him of not being grateful enough for American support. Putin launched his full-scale invasion in 2022, and Russian forces have bombed Ukraine for more than four and a half years.
Zelensky talked with top US envoys on Sunday, Oct. 18, to ease tensions after Trump accused him of not wanting peace. In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Oct. 18, Zelensky said he hoped Trump would reverse his decisions, and argued that sanctions relief strengthens Russia’s position rather than advancing peace.
A Ukrainian drone strike hit an oil terminal in St. Petersburg amid the escalating confrontation, in an account reported as of Oct. 19.
Almost 2 Million Tons of Diesel
Trump announced a deal on Friday, Oct. 9, to bring in Russian diesel. The purchase covers almost 2 million tons. The deal suspends U.S. restrictions on Russian diesel.
Trump scrambled to bring down fuel costs driven by his own war on Iran. That war has not drawn the same blame. Fuel shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait has been wrecked, and Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have blockaded the southern end of the Red Sea.
Trump called for a new Ukrainian president on Saturday, Oct. 10, as the deal drew global backlash. He said it was “time for Ukraine to get a new president.”
Voters rank the conflict and its effect on prices among their top concerns ahead of the Nov. 3 races for the House and Senate. Democrats hold an overall 9-point lead.
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 more than $250 billion to Zelensky, and that all Trump wanted was diesel prices down 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, posted on Wednesday, Oct. 14, that it was time for Zelensky to go. His post responded to a clip of Zelensky telling British journalist Piers Morgan that Ukraine is not for sale and that the war is about his country’s lives, homes and children.
The Order That Slowed Starshield
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 to force him to accept the ceasefire. He said his forces then lost early-warning systems for incoming missiles, and that satellite coverage slowed.
Trump denied cutting off the intelligence supply. U.S. officials told the Ukrainians the alert failures were a glitch, and Zelensky disputed that account.
Musk has 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.
Kharkiv Bombed, Four Warplanes Destroyed
Putin’s forces bombed energy facilities in Kharkiv and Kyiv after Trump announced the ceasefire. Zelensky said Russia had not honored the energy ceasefire, continuing strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and killing about 100 civilians over the past week. Drone strikes killed three more on Friday, Oct. 16, and knocked out power for about 370,000 people.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that Starshield was working again, but only for drones moving slower than 100 mph. Zelensky announced Thursday that an overnight Ukrainian strike destroyed four Russian warplanes and hit two more. He vowed to keep attacking targets inside Russia.