WASHINGTON – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pent-up anger with President Donald Trump burst into public view this week, jeopardizing U.S. support ahead of what is likely to be another brutal and bloody winter for Ukraine.
The two leaders, who long had an uneasy alliance stitched together with slightly overlapping interests, traded jabs after Trump openly sided with Russia’s authoritarian leader Vladimir Putin and pressured Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries.
The acrimonious rupture has raised alarms in Kyiv about whether the White House could end intelligence sharing, restrict crucial satellite technology and pause weapon sales — the main forms of U.S. support for Ukraine.
“At this stage, there is no genuine, fully equivalent substitute for U.S. intelligence or the weapons we purchase with European funds – not receive for free,” former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told USA TODAY.
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At the center of the current crisis is Trump’s deal with Putin to import Russian diesel, a move that required lifting sanctions on Russia and would deliver fresh funds into the Kremlin’s dwindling war chest.
Ukraine experts and former diplomats said Zelenskyy’s risky decision to go public with his frustrations came after he felt Trump betrayed Ukraine by cozying up to Putin at a time when Russia is escalating attacks against Ukrainian civilians and Kyiv is running dangerously low on its stockpiles of U.S.-made Patriot interceptor missiles.
“It is a huge risk,” said Serhii Plokhy, a professor of Ukrainian history at Harvard who has written about Russia’s war against Ukraine. “But he is reflecting and articulating the mood in Ukrainian society.”
On Oct. 9, Trump agreed to the diesel deal with Putin. Russia responded by killing 23 people, including four children, in a strike against residential buildings in Ukraine.
On Oct. 10, Trump called for Zelenskyy’s ouster and blamed the Ukrainian leader for prolonging the war. Russia responded by attacking more residential buildings.
On Oct. 11, Trump announced an energy ceasefire. Russia responded by targeting energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy had enough. “That’s it,” he declared in an interview with the Financial Times on Oct. 15. “We’re done.”
Trump responded by chastising Zelenskyy in a television interview later that day, calling the Ukrainian leader an obstacle to peace.
“I find Zelenskyy to be more difficult to deal with than Putin,” Trump said.
US support for Ukraine in doubt
Trump agreed to lift sanctions on Russian diesel in a desperate bid to lower prices at the pump ahead of November’s midterm elections as record-high energy prices have become a major liability for the Republican Party’s chances to hold onto power in Congress.
The decision sparked outrage in Ukraine because it effectively handed Putin a lifeline at a time when Russia was struggling on the battlefield and its economy was under significant strain.
Zelenskyy criticized Trump for siding with the Russian leader while the Ukrainian people are “surviving, fighting, dying.” Putin, he said, is “real evil.”
“How Trump can be friends with him?” Zelenskyy added. “I think that it’s a mistake.”
Late on Oct. 16, Trump announced that he would not impose many sanctions on Russia that were due to take effect in the coming days, effectively undermining Congress after it passed legislation with bipartisan support to increase pressure on Putin.
The Trump administration already cut off most military aid for Ukraine, with the majority of U.S. weapons that Kyiv receives paid for by European allies.
But Ukraine still heavily depends on Washington for military intelligence, U.S. weapons, and the Pentagon-controlled Starshield satellite services. Zelenskyy’s feud with Trump is threatening that support at a time when Ukraine needs it more than ever.
Ukraine faced a temporary disruption to Starshield’s services overnight on Oct. 14, preventing its military from defending against Russian missile and drone attacks. If Ukraine were to lose permanent access to that technology, Russia would gain a major advantage on the battlefield.
U.S. officials have denied that Trump ordered Starshield services to be shut off, but SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, whose company developed the technology, pointed the finger back at the White House.
Why does the diesel deal matter?
Republican candidates across the country are struggling to overcome widespread discontent with high fuel prices, which were driven up by Trump’s unpopular war with Iran. As polls suggest the Republicans may lose control of both the House and the Senate, Trump has become focused on trying to lower energy prices.
Trump’s diesel deal with Putin “shows how desperate he is to save face just days before an election, when Americans are ready to hold him accountable for months of higher inflation and out-of-control gas and grocery prices,” Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, told USA TODAY.
For weeks, Trump has complained about Ukrainian strikes against Russian oil refineries, which he considers to be responsible for driving up the cost of diesel. Trump reiterated his frustration with the strikes at the United Nations, where he last met with Zelenskyy face to face.
Ukrainian officials have defended the strikes as one of the most effective strategies to end the current phase of the war, which started in February 2022 with Russia’s unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“To win the war, we need to drain Russia’s military and financial resources,” Yatsenyuk said. “Oil refineries are one of the lifelines that finance Russia’s war chest.”
As fuel prices remained stubbornly high, Trump announced he was lifting sanctions on Russian diesel.
The agreement was an important victory for Moscow. It will give Russia’s economy a much needed boost, help sustain the war, and further divide Kyiv’s allies at a time when Putin is trying to convince the West to end its support for Ukraine.
“The diesel deal makes little sense from a foreign policy, national security perspective,” said Max Bergmann, the director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I think it projects American weakness.”
A rocky relationship
Trump and Zelenskyy have long had a stormy relationship, dating back to the U.S. president’s first term in office. Trump was impeached in 2019 for pressuring Zelenskyy to investigate Joe Biden, his political opponent.
In February 2025, Trump and Vice President JD Vance publicly berated Zelenskyy during a meeting in the Oval Office. The Americans accused Zelenskyy of being disrespectful and not showing enough gratitude for all the U.S. aid that Ukraine received in its war defending against Russia.
Trump’s recent pivot toward Russia caught Ukraine and its allies off guard. They believed Zelenskyy had brought the U.S.-Ukraine relationship back from the depths after their explosive White House encounter.
In June and July, Trump had praised Ukraine’s deep strikes inside of Russia and spoke highly of Zelenskyy. Speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on June 25, Trump said Zelenskyy was “courageous” and “doing pretty well” on the battlefield.
That all changed in recent weeks as Trump focused on fuel prices and became angry with Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy targets ahead of the midterm elections.
The current feud between Trump and Zelenskyy stems from two leaders who are focused on their own interests, according to Gordon Sondland, who advised Trump on Ukraine policy while serving as ambassador to the European Union from 2018 to 2020.
“Zelenskyy is fighting an existential crisis,” Sondland said. “Trump is fighting an election.”
While Zelenskyy quickly sought to mend his relationship with Trump last year, he is showing no such urgency this time around.
Ukraine is no longer as dependent on Trump, even though it still relies on support from Washington. Kyiv receives most of its military aid from European allies and has the backing of a number of Republicans in Congress.
“Ukraine is just in a different place. It now has cards,” Bergmann said.
Zelenskyy looks to Congress
It’s unclear how much more time and effort Zelenskyy is willing to invest in his efforts to appease Trump and go along with the White House’s strategy for ending the war in Ukraine.
Instead, Zelenskyy has looked on Capitol Hill for allies in Washington. On the same day that Trump and Putin agreed to their diesel deal, Zelenskyy met in Kyiv with Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi.
But experts say it may not be enough for Zelenskyy to have allies in Congress if Trump completely turns its back on him. A lot of the support that Ukraine currently receives from the United States – such as intelligence sharing and the use of the Starshield satellite service – is determined by the White House.
“This is all throttled aggressively forward or held back by the executive branch,” Bergmann said. “Congress, right now, isn’t a savior for Ukraine, but it’s still important.”
Trump’s decision to lift diesel sanctions on Russia was met with bipartisan criticism from lawmakers. At least eight Republican senators have voiced opposition to the diesel deal.
Lawmakers, including members of Trump’s own party, expressed more outrage at the U.S. president’s move to waive the Russia sanctions package that Congress passed with bipartisan support in September.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, slammed the sanctions waiver as “beyond irresponsible.”
“It’s unconscionable that this administration is capitulating to a Russian dictator who illegally invaded Ukraine and butchers innocent civilians every single day,” he added.
Zelenskyy could count on even more reliable congressional support if Democrats retake control of the House and the Senate in November.
Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-Virginia, told USA TODAY that Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russia “is appalling.”
“Putin continues to wage his brutal war against Ukraine, and easing economic pressure now would only embolden him and undermine our efforts to hold Russia accountable,” Vindman added.
A bipartisan group of senators demanded the Pentagon investigate the sudden disruption in Ukraine to Starshield services in a letter on Oct. 15.
With Zelenskyy unsure of support from the Trump administration, he is hoping that American voters show their commitment to Ukraine at the ballot box in November.
“There are so many people with good hearts in America who sincerely want evil to lose and Ukraine to stand strong,” Zelenskyy said on Oct. 16 during a visit to Brussels. “I believe most Americans still feel this way and at the end of the day, the American people will have their say.”
