Trump says Ukraine needs a new negotiator, calls Russia “fine” and says Zelensky does not want to end the war

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Ukraine may need someone other than President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate an end to the war, while defending his decision not to increase pressure on Russia during talks with President Vladimir Putin.

“I think it’s time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on October 19. He said Zelenskyy “should have had this war settled a long time ago” and would have secured a better deal if he had listened to him.

Asked about Zelenskyy saying Trump was on the wrong side of history, Trump replied: “Zelenskyy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Trump said Russia had been “fine on Ukraine” and “hasn’t been doing much,” while arguing that imposing further sanctions could disrupt his negotiations with Putin. Asked about criticism that easing sanctions amounted to supporting Putin, Trump said: “I’m supporting stopping the war.”

He also said the U.S. had given Ukraine substantial support without receiving anything in return and accused Zelenskyy of not doing enough to end the conflict.

On Iran, Trump praised Moscow and Beijing for limiting their support for Tehran. “Putin is laying off Iran,” he said. “Russia has done nothing in Iran that we can see, and I think that’s very positive.”

“Russia could’ve done a lot more to help Iran. Russia has done very little for Iran,” Trump added, saying China also could have provided considerably more assistance to Tehran. He said he viewed both countries’ limited involvement as positive while the U.S. was “hitting Iran very hard.”

Trump also said he would be open to a trilateral meeting with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in China, with nuclear weapons and denuclearization among the issues he wants to discuss.

Asked who ordered the interruption of Starlink services affecting Ukraine, Trump said: “I don’t know who it was, but I’d like to find out.” Ukrainian officials have blamed recent Starlink/Starshield restrictions for disrupting military operations.

Trump separately blamed France’s unrest on immigration rather than economic or educational grievances and repeated his call for President Emmanuel Macron to tighten the country’s borders.

“Paris is going to be a Muslim city very soon,” Trump said. “They’ve ruined France. It’s going to be hard to get it back. Hopefully, France will come back.”

When a reporter told him Macron had blamed the Iran war and Trump for the unrest, Trump called the assertion “fake news.”