Trump Unloads On Zelensky In Lengthy Interview Tirade: 'He's Not A Good Guy'
In a rarity, President Trump spent a good amount of time in a fresh Newsmax sit-down interview lambasting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, a longtime Washington ally who has been the recipient of billions in US arms and funds.
At a moment Zelensky has resisted Trump's call to stop striking Russian oil refineries, Trump bashed the Ukrainian leader as "not a good guy for (the US) to deal with." Watch Trump put Zelensky on blast...
.@POTUS: "Zelensky is not a good guy for us to deal with... If they're going to end up with a settlement of some kind, they're not going to do it with him. He doesn't want to settle. He says he wants to settle, but he doesn't." https://t.co/jVbg0jRJg0
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 16, 2026
He lamented that the Ukrainian president does not want to help bring an end to the war, now it its fifth year.
"He says he wants to settle, but he doesn't. I'm not a big fan of Zelensky. They've destroyed that country," the US president said, ultimately laying blame the blame also on the prior Biden administration.
Trump said it is the Ukraine war - and not the Iran war which he started with his Operation Epic Fury - that is driving up global energy prices.
"Now, if you tell me that Zelensky is again shooting at refineries, all he's doing is making the world oil price higher," Trump stated.
"Well, I think that's a disgrace. There's plenty of other targets... There are a lot of targets that you can hit," the president continued.
Trump goes after Zelensky extensively in the interview, not holding back:
Trump: "I watched an interview of a young woman the other day from Ukraine. And she said, 'President Zelenskyy has destroyed our country. President Zelenskyy has taken our men away from us. Our men have no legs, no arms. Our men in many cases in mental institutions or they're dead.'"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 16, 2026
"But when you shoot at diesel refineries where you make, you know, diesel oil and we need that and the world needs that, then he's not doing a good service for the world" - Trump said further of Zelensky.
The American president again went so far as to say it's time for a new Ukrainian leader, and that fresh elections must be held.
"I think you need an election because there's nobody that's telling me that the people of Ukraine are satisfied having missiles hitting their apartment building," Trump said.
Concerning the admitted ongoing difficulty of getting the two warring sides to the negotiating table, Trump described, "As you know, Putin hates Zelenskyy, and Zelensky hates Putin. And when you have that kind of hatred, it's very hard to get something settled."
Trump has engaged in plenty of prior public critiques of Zelensky, but again - it's unusual for him to sit down with a conservative outlet and offer lengthy commentary on how Zelensky is failing.
Show host Rob Finnerty looks briefly shocked when Trump bluntly says "I find Zelensky to be more difficult to deal with than Putin"...
Trump on Zelensky: I find Zelensky to be more difficult to deal with than Putin. https://t.co/7i8H2yDFHR
— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 16, 2026
This week there are signs that the US may be cutting back intelligence-sharing with Kiev, also amid Ukrainian outrage at the diesel deal with Putin announced last week. Ukraine has continued refinery strikes, also with Zelensky saying that Trump's prior proclaimed 'energy ceasefire' was "news to me".