Trump Says Ukraine Should Replace Zelensky as Its Negotiator With Russia

President Donald Trump said Monday that Ukraine should replace Volodymyr Zelensky as its negotiator in peace talks with Russia, a public rebuke that showed how strained the relationship between Washington and Kyiv has become.

“Maybe it’s time for Zelenskiy to get somebody else to negotiate,” Trump told reporters, according to Reuters. Trump also accused Zelensky of not knowing what he was talking about, according to CNN.

The remarks capped a weekend of traded accusations. Kyiv launched one of its biggest drone attacks of the year on Russia, hitting a St. Petersburg oil terminal, in defiance of Trump’s demand that Ukraine stop striking Russian refineries, according to CNN. Trump said last week that those strikes were a “disgrace” and that Zelensky was harder to deal with than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump also defended Russia on Monday, telling reporters that Moscow has been “fine” on Ukraine: “They haven’t been doing much,” according to Reuters. At the same time, he said the United States was still sharing intelligence with Ukraine and would consider allowing Ukrainians to stay in the US under temporary protected status until the war ends.

A rift over sanctions, energy and intelligence

On Sunday, Zelensky told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump’s recent waivers on Russia sanctions strengthened Putin’s war against Ukraine, and said it would be a “historic mistake” for the United States to side with Russia. Asked whether Trump was an ally of Ukraine, Zelensky said: “I hope so.”

In a post on X Sunday, Zelensky said Russia had attacked Ukraine’s energy and oil and gas sectors 76 times since Trump announced an energy ceasefire a week earlier, and on Monday he said a Russian drone attack in the Kharkiv region killed six people, including three children. “Lives must be protected. Ukraine needs air defense,” he wrote, according to CNN. The Trump administration has denied ordering any slowdown in satellite intelligence shared with Ukraine. On Monday, Trump said he did not know who had restricted service for Ukraine’s drones and would “like to find out,” while Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “There’s been no pause.”

On Monday, Zelensky held an online meeting with a bipartisan group of American lawmakers, calling the moment “the most difficult situation from the very beginning of this war” and saying it appeared that “some political decision has been made to slow down support for us,” according to CNN.

Talks with Russia move on without Ukraine in the room

Reports of a possible meeting between Trump, Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping next month without Ukrainian participation drew a sharp response from Kyiv. Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X that such a meeting “would do only the opposite: encourage Putin to continue this war.” Trump said Monday he would be open to a three-way meeting focused on denuclearization, not on Ukraine’s war. The Kremlin said Monday that no concrete proposals had been discussed.

Zelensky said he spoke Sunday with US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and hoped to meet them “maybe in Norway in the coming days,” according to CNN. He also spoke with Pope Leo XIV on Monday. The Vatican said the pope had spoken with Putin days earlier about the humanitarian situation in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, where Ukrainian authorities say about 2,000 civilians lack food and basic medicine.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters and CNN.