BREAKING: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy TEARS into Trump’s “obvious weakness” after the American President announced, in a stunning betrayal, that he will allow millions of tons of Russian diesel fuel to enter the global market.
“Peace never comes through weakness. Today, representatives of the U.S. Congress were in Kyiv – a bipartisan delegation – and I am grateful to them for visiting Ukraine at such a difficult time. They asked: what is needed to end the war? The answer must be strong,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “There must be sanctions under the Lindsey Graham bill, there must be support for Ukraine in protecting lives, and there must be pressure on Russia for its war. And today, there was a conversation between the leaders of America and Russia. A conversation that leads to something different.”
“Recently, there was a European decision to lift sanctions on Russian oligarchs. Since then, Russian strikes and the torment of people have only increased,” he continued. “This past week alone, there was a brutal Russian missile strike on a residential building in Pryluky, aerial bombs were dropped on Kramatorsk – on ordinary city buses – and there have been constant attacks on Kyiv’s energy infrastructure and on the life-sustaining infrastructure in Dnipro, Kharkiv, Odesa, and our other cities. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds wounded.”
As ever when considering this war, it’s worth remembering that Putin started this conflict for deeply unjust, vainglorious reasons. His dreams of reconstituting the U.S.S.R. or even Imperial Russia have resulted in over 2 million people being killed, injured, or reported missing.
“The Russians are compensating for their inability to achieve their objectives on the battlefield with this kind of terror. This year, Russia is weaker on the battlefield than at any other point in the war,” Zelenskyy continued. “That is why Putin is relying on terror. That is why he is relying on attempts to strike backroom deals to secure some form of pressure relief for Russia, in order to buy more time and more opportunities for war.”
The Russian dictator is engaged in a campaign of remorseless terrorism against the Ukrainian people, which makes Trump’s announcement today that he will be allowing 300,000 tons of diesel fuel into the American and global markets, followed by another 500,000 and then 1,000,000, utterly inexcusable. Every dollar that flows into the Kremlin is a dollar being spent to bomb, murder, and maim innocent Ukrainians.
“Any easing of sanctions against Russia without a clear and lasting de-escalation agreement with Russia is an obvious weakness,” Zelenskyy went on. “It plays into Russia’s hands – allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world.”
“Ukraine is ready to take symmetrical de-escalatory steps, and the American team knows our position. Our strikes on Russian oil refineries and other oil facilities are a response to Russia’s years-long campaign of terror against Ukraine’s energy sector. Ukraine will not set Russian oil refineries on fire if Russia does not destroy our energy infrastructure. This is the kind of agreement we are proposing to America, and we believe the United States has enough power to achieve such a compromise.”
“Gifts to Putin will not bring peace or any benefit to the civilized world. Russia will ‘repay’ the diesel with further terror and perfidy. Allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an investment in a war that must be ended, not prolonged. What is needed is real de-escalation with Russia on a reciprocal basis.”
“We count on America’s fair support for our defense of life, for our defense of people in Ukraine – and on the United States having a correspondingly strong conversation with Russia. A strong one, not a weak one,” the Ukrainian President concluded.