Zelensky accuses Trump of blaming Ukraine for U.S. diesel costs, points to Hormuz disruption and rejects shifting blame for Russian aggression

Zelensky accused the U.S. president of blaming Ukraine for rising diesel prices in the United States, saying disruption around the Strait of Hormuz was the core cause. He called it “wrong and unacceptable” for Trump to shift responsibility for Russian aggression and killings onto him, as he described his relationship with Trump as worsening.

Zelensky said he agreed with Trump that “if Crimea hadn’t been allowed to fall, there would be no war.” He rejected Moscow’s claims that Ukraine was dominated by Nazis, recalling that his grandfather fought through World War II and several relatives were killed by Nazi Germany.

He said he did not expect Putin to use nuclear weapons, arguing that doing so would leave Moscow internationally isolated, including from major powers such as China.

Zelensky said that agreeing to stop fighting along the current lines and enter negotiations would already be an enormous compromise for Ukraine. He said he had repeatedly tried to explain to Trump that years of deaths and destruction could not simply be set aside in exchange for renewed Russian trade in gas or diesel.

Any peace settlement would also need to provide accountability for war crimes, Zelensky said. Families who had lost loved ones needed at least a path toward justice, he argued, adding that “it’s totally impossible to simply forgive.”

Zelensky said he had offered Washington an energy arrangement: Ukraine would stop attacking Russian refineries if the United States supplied Patriot air-defense missiles to protect Ukrainian infrastructure. He stressed that Europe would pay for the weapons, but said Washington had told Kyiv that available missiles had been redirected to the Middle East.

He urged Trump to direct the same pressure and rhetoric toward Putin that he applies to Ukraine, noting that Congress had approved strong sanctions authorities against Russia. “I don’t know why he is not doing it,” Zelensky said. “Maybe they have a special relationship. Maybe something else. I can only guess.”

Zelensky ended by saying that an entire generation of Ukrainian children had grown up during wartime, but that Ukraine still believed peace would ultimately prevail.