Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned President Trump on Wednesday that he had chosen “the wrong side” by agreeing to import diesel fuel from Russia – which Zelensky said had given Russian President Vladimir Putin an “easy victory.”
“It’s painful when President Trump chooses a side, not ours,” Zelensky told “Piers Morgan Uncensored.” “But we’re OK with him being in the middle. But if you’re in the middle, you have to stay in the middle. Not on the bad side.”
“I think his advisors are wrong. I don’t know who is pushing him. Not on the right side, it’s not the right side of history,” he added.
In the heated half-hour interview, Zelensky said the move was a sign that the United States was not supporting his war-torn country – saying: “It is a shame that we are losing a strong partner.”
Zelensky also accused SpaceX boss Elon Musk of restricting Ukraine’s access to the Starlink internet system, which kyiv officials said disrupted key military operations.
“I’m sure they absolutely knew what they were doing,” he said. “Because it was 1 a.m., (when) Starlink was blocked by SpaceX and the United States.”
“It’s not just about attacking. It’s also about defending life,” Zelensky added. “So people were killed because there wasn’t enough destruction, not enough interceptors, including the interceptors with Starlink, which didn’t work. Of course.”
Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that kyiv’s access to a military version of Elon Musk’s Starlink internet system was limited without warning, halting combat drone operations as Russian forces launched a new series of attacks on civilian targets.
When asked if he was angry with Musk over the service delay, he replied: “Yes, I think he’s not right.”
“It’s a big mistake. I don’t know him, or someone pushed him to do it, I don’t really know,” he said.
“It’s a big mistake… This decision will cause a lot of human losses… Of course, people will die. Of course, if the attacks continue and Starlink doesn’t work, it won’t help,” he said.
“So my message is absolutely: I hope it’s a mistake, maybe a huge technical problem, I don’t know. But we’re asking to do it, to turn it on.”
Zelensky said he also felt betrayed when President Trump announced a ceasefire deal on energy and diesel with Putin last week.
“Our country must survive, and we rely on our real partners, our strategic partners, the United States and President Trump. They wanted us not to attack. My opinion was that it is not fair, an energy ceasefire is acceptable, it is understandable,” Zelensky said.
“It’s the worst version of peace. But anyway, it’s a step towards peace. So a de-escalation, an energy ceasefire… of course we support it because we need our people to live, to get through this winter and stop the war. That’s what we want,” he said.
“But he talked about energy ceasefire and we didn’t attack for three days – any type of energy object. We didn’t attack, we didn’t respond… They attacked us, our gas stations, our infrastructure, etc.”
On Friday, Trump announced a deal with Putin under which Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the U.S. and global markets.
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