The relationship between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has had many ups and downs over the years.
Trump’s first impeachment, in his first term, involved a phone call to his Ukrainian counterpart.
President Donald J. Trump calls the International Space Station from NASA Mission Control Center at the NASA Johnson Space Center, Friday, August 28, 2026, in Houston, Texas. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
Donald Trump at Oval Office Event Creative Commons Photo
By the time Trump returned to office, Russia and Ukraine were at war, a war that Trump vowed to end as soon as he got back into the White House.
When Zelensky came to Washington in February 2025, the president and vice president dressed him down in the Oval Office, telling him he didn’t have any cards to play.
But as Trump’s second term progressed, Trump and Zelensky seemed to get along better as Ukraine’s battlefield fortunes improved.
As recently as July, the New York Times reported that the two men’s relationship had begun to thaw after Zelensky traveled to the United States for Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral.
However, in recent weeks, things have taken a turn again.
Trump vs. Zelensky
Throughout the summer and fall, Russia and Ukraine have been attacking each other’s energy infrastructure, including oil refineries.
As the midterm elections have approached and energy prices have remained high, Trump has sought to deflect from the Iran War by blaming those high prices on the attacks in Russia and Ukraine.
Last weekend, Trump announced that the two sides had agreed to an “energy ceasefire” that would stop such attacks, but Zelensky soon denied that Ukraine had agreed to anything like that.
Around the same time, Trump made the shocking announcement that he had agreed to a deal with Putin to buy hundreds of thousands of tons of Russian diesel, simultaneously lifting sanctions on such energy.
A bipartisan group of senators denounced Trump’s move as a betrayal of an ally and an undermining of the international sanctions regime, arguing that lifting sanctions without first notifying Congress may be illegal.
Trump also declared that he wants to see Zelensky replaced as president of Ukraine by someone willing to agree to a deal with Russia to bring the war to an end.
The deal, various reports have stated, followed Zelensky refusing multiple requests from Trump to stop attacking Russian energy sites.
No More Ceasefire
On Thursday, Zelensky gave an interview to the Financial Times, in which he announced he would stop the pause on strikes on Russian refineries and resume them soon.
That pause took effect after Trump unilaterally announced the phantom energy ceasefire, but the Ukrainian president told FT it will soon end.
“That’s it. The block is out,” Zelensky said in the interview.
He went on to bash Russian President Vladimir Putin as “real evil” and questioned Trump’s ties to the Russian leader.
“How can Trump be friends with him?” Mr. Zelensky said in the FT interview. “I think it’s a mistake.”
The New York Times reported that a Russian regional governor said on Telegram that a drone strike at a refinery had caused a fire.
However, it had not been independently confirmed that Ukraine had begun striking Russia again.
U.S. officials, meanwhile, had denied that they had stopped intelligence cooperation with Ukraine or had threatened to do so.
However, Ukraine reportedly lost some access to the military-grade version of Starlink.
But in the Financial Times interview, Zelensky stated that U.S. military personnel had in fact threatened to withhold such cooperation if Ukraine didn’t stop attacking Russian oil facilities.
The FT interview was published as Zelensky arrived in Brussels to meet with European leaders.
In a separate interview the day before with Piers Morgan, as cited by Kyiv Post, Zelensky argued against Trump’s call to replace him as president, saying any leader who replaced him would still defend the nation.
“I am sure that a new man or woman will defend our country, because this is our home,” Zelensky said in the interview with Morgan.
Ukraine has not had a presidential election since the war began.
The Ukrainian leader also took a shot at Elon Musk, whose company controls Starlink.
Zelensky told Piers Morgan that who will lead Ukraine is “a decision for our people, not Trump, not Musk, not anyone else.”
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has written thousands of articles on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
