“Unfair and dishonest”: Zelensky calls Trump’s diesel deal with Putin a birthday gift

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Donald Trump’s diesel fuel deal with Vladimir Putin is “unfair and dishonest” and looks like a birthday gift to the Russian president.

Zelensky made the remarks in an interview with Axios.

“You know, it looks like a birthday gift to Putin. It just looks terrible,” Zelensky said.

According to Axios, Trump agreed to the diesel deal with Putin after Zelensky ignored a request to stop striking Russian oil refineries.

Trump’s announcement, made following a phone call with Putin, shocked the Ukrainian government and many European governments, the outlet writes. Financial Times journalist Christopher Miller reported, citing a Ukrainian official, that “tonight there is disappointment and anger” in Kyiv over the American president’s decision.

The same Ukrainian source made clear that Kyiv has no intention of halting attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, regardless of Trump’s decision to allow Russian diesel onto world markets.

“We will burn their refineries,” Miller’s source said.

Zelensky had previously criticized the lifting of American sanctions on Russian diesel fuel, calling the move “an obvious weakness” that would make Russia “respect America even less.”