President Trump said Monday that Ukraine should find someone other than Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate an end to the war with Russia. “Zelenskyy is a man that should have had settled this war a long time ago,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “Maybe it’s time for Zelenskyy to get somebody else to negotiate,” Al Jazeera reported.
In the same remarks, Trump said Russia had been “fine” and “They haven’t been doing much,” Reuters reported. Last week, Russian ballistic missiles hit Kyiv on back-to-back nights, killing at least nine people.
Why does Trump want Zelenskyy replaced as negotiator?
Trump says Zelenskyy is the obstacle. On Sunday he claimed on Truth Social that Zelenskyy doesn’t want the war to end, and earlier this month he called him a “warmonger” over Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries and said it was time for Ukraine to get a new president. The fight has escalated fast: in less than two weeks, Trump struck a diesel deal with Russia, waived new sanctions Congress passed and watched Ukraine’s military satellite service get throttled, with Reuters reporting the order came from inside the White House.
What is Zelenskyy saying about U.S. weapons?
That they’re being held up. Zelenskyy told U.S. senators Monday that some of the administration’s decisions are “hard to explain between friends.” He said the Pentagon is delaying missiles that European partners have already paid for under a program called PURL, with one package reportedly waiting on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s signature. Several European countries are ready to send Patriot interceptors from their own stockpiles but are waiting on U.S. approval. Zelenskyy also said Ukraine didn’t get the usual advance warning of Russian attacks three times in the past week.
Trump said the U.S. is still sharing intelligence. He also said he’d consider letting Ukrainians stay in the U.S. under temporary protected status until the war ends.
Are peace talks still happening?
Yes, at least on paper. Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to travel to Norway this week for the next round of talks, and sources told Reuters they expect Zelenskyy to attend. The Oslo meeting is expected to include Norway’s prime minister, the UK, France, Germany, Poland, the EU and NATO.
The BeezLoop Take
An American president telling a democratic ally to swap out its elected leader as negotiator, while calling the country that invaded it “fine,” isn’t neutral diplomacy. It’s pressure on one side. And it comes the same week Ukraine says it’s missing missile warnings and waiting on weapons its allies already bought.
Trump is right that the war needs to end. But a deal reached by squeezing the country being bombed until it gives in isn’t a peace that lasts, and Americans have a stake in that, because the next war starts from the last bad deal.
The open question: does Zelenskyy go to Oslo this week, and will the U.S. release the missiles Ukraine’s partners already paid for?
Also on BeezLoop: Zelenskyy said the Starlink slowdown was a message from Washington, and how Trump waived the Russia sanctions he signed.
Sources: Reuters, via Yahoo News · Al Jazeera · ABC News (video)
