Trump blasts Ukraine for restarting oil refinery strikes, calls Zelenskyy 'harder than Putin'
Trump calls Ukraine's oil refinery strikes a 'disgrace' and says Zelenskyy is harder to deal with than Putin after his unilateral energy ceasefire collapses.
Donald Trump's latest jab at Ukraine landed hard on Friday. He called the country's resumed attacks on Russian oil refineries a "disgrace," adding fuel to his growing frustration with Volodymyr Zelenskyy—whom he now claims is tougher to work with than Putin himself.
The spat erupted after Ukraine ditched what Trump had announced as an "energy ceasefire" just days earlier. Here's the thing though: Russia and Ukraine never actually agreed to the deal. Trump declared it unilaterally last week, then acted shocked when Kyiv walked away from something they'd never signed up for in the first place.
Zelenskyy responded by saying Ukraine was abandoning the ceasefire and restarting strikes on Russian refineries. This is the same playbook Ukraine's been running for months—targeting Russia's oil infrastructure to squeeze Moscow's war machine. And now Trump's treating it like a personal betrayal.
The president's rhetoric has shifted noticeably. He's gone from positioning himself as a dealmaker who could solve the Ukraine crisis to openly criticizing Zelenskyy more harshly than he's criticized Putin. Calling the Ukrainian leader "more difficult to deal with" than the Russian dictator is... a choice. It suggests Trump sees Ukraine's refusal to accept terms it didn't negotiate as worse than Russia's invasion itself.
The energy sector's been a constant flashpoint in this war. Ukraine's been hammering Russian refineries and fuel depots for months, degrading Moscow's ability to produce weapons and fuel vehicles. Russia's retaliated by targeting Ukrainian power plants. It's brutal, cyclical, and exactly the kind of grinding conflict Trump said he'd end "in 24 hours."
But here we are. Trump's unilateral ceasefire lasted about as long as most New Year's resolutions. And instead of using this moment to pressure both sides into actual negotiations, he's choosing to flame Zelenskyy on social media. Whether that's strategic or just frustration venting, it's not exactly the diplomatic approach most people expected from a president who promised quick results.
