Trump Says Zelensky Is 'Not a Good Guy for Us to Deal With' and Harder to Handle Than Putin

Since Trump unilaterally announced an "energy ceasefire" on Oct. 11, the Washington-Kyiv relationship has gone from strained to openly hostile. The latest turn came Thursday, Oct. 15, in an interview with Rob Finnerty on Newsmax.

Trump was asked whether he had asked Zelensky to stop hitting Russian oil refineries. "I did," he said. Then: "Zelensky is not a good guy for us to deal with."

What Trump said

Trump said he expects a settlement of some kind, but not with Zelensky at the table. "He says he wants to settle, but he doesn't," Trump said. "No, I'm not a big fan of Zelensky. They've destroyed that country."

He added that "it really began with Barack Hussein Obama when they made them give up Crimea." He called Crimea "the most valuable part, by far, of Ukraine" and described it as having "four sides of ocean."

Crimea is a peninsula. The Black Sea and the Sea of Azov border it, not an ocean. Russia annexed it in 2014, during Obama's presidency.

Trump also said that "if the US election weren't rigged, that war would have never happened." He offered no evidence for the claim in the interview.

On the war's outlook he was upbeat. "It should end soon," he said. "I think they actually both would like to see it end, but I find Zelensky to be more difficult to deal with than Putin."

The refinery dispute

Trump called Ukraine's strikes on Russian refineries "a disgrace." His argument was about oil prices. "If you tell me that Zelensky is again shooting at refineries, all he's doing is making the world oil price higher," he said.

Experts have disputed the claim that Ukrainian strikes are driving global fuel prices, the Kyiv Independent noted. Trump's team had threatened to cut off intelligence support and arms shipments unless Kyiv stopped the attacks.

Washington then unveiled a deal allowing Moscow to export diesel to the U.S. and other markets despite wartime sanctions. Zelensky told Piers Morgan on Wednesday he felt "betrayed" by the diesel deal. He called it a "pity" to be losing a "strong partner" and said doing business with Putin was not "the right side of history."

How the ceasefire fell apart

Trump announced the ceasefire on social media on Sunday, Oct. 11: "Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!"

Zelensky said Kyiv backed the truce but had not known about it in advance. The Kremlin declined to say whether it supported it.

On Monday, Trump appeared to concede there had been no prior buy-in. "Well, they agreed. You know why? Because I said, 'You agreed.' That's why," he told reporters.

Zelensky said Russia struck a power plant in Kharkiv shortly after the announcement. He also cited drone attacks on civilian infrastructure, including a high-rise apartment building in Kyiv. Ukraine, he said, carried out no strikes on Russian refineries or the energy sector for two days.

"Russia did not heed the American President," Zelensky wrote. He told the Financial Times the pause in refinery strikes was "done." On Oct. 15, before the Newsmax interview aired, he lifted the restrictions on those strikes.

Trump's side of that dispute is that Moscow's energy attacks never stopped, which he said in the interview, and that both countries want to end the war but, in his words, "don't know how."

Kyiv's response

Zelensky has not yet responded to the Newsmax remarks. Before them, he said: "I think Trump's advisers are wrong. I don't know who is pushing him to the wrong side."

Asked whether he felt betrayed, he answered: "Really, yes... but it's a little bit more complicated than just my emotions or my feelings."

Zelensky has said his team sent proposals for further talks to Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff. The White House has not publicly answered. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said only that "contacts are ongoing."

Territory and the stalemate

The Trump administration has repeatedly urged Kyiv, publicly and in peace proposals, to accept territorial concessions and drop its NATO ambitions. Kyiv has refused. The two sides remain deadlocked over the Donbas region.

Trump also revisited the opening days of the 2022 invasion. He said Russian tanks heading for Kyiv would have won "in one day" had a general not turned onto soaked farmland, and he called Ukraine's survival a matter of luck. "I can imagine Putin is not exactly thrilled," he said.

Kyiv has been without enough air defense as Russia hits its power grid ahead of winter.

Zelensky spent this week in Brussels meeting NATO chief Mark Rutte and European leaders. He is scheduled to join an EU summit today, Oct. 16.