Moscow is yet to see a single U.S. dollar arrive in its bank account under President Donald Trump’s diesel deal, but Russian leader Vladimir Putin is already enjoying a different kind of profit. Trump on Friday announced he had hashed out an agreement with his Kremlin counterpart to offer sanctions relief in return for Russian diesel. The deal was rightly criticized by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Washington, as well as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
But Trump’s response made for even worse news. "I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal," Trump said Saturday, blaming Zelensky for failing to end the war and for America’s soaring diesel prices. "It’s time for Ukraine to get a new president." For Putin, no amount of diesel revenue could easily match that kind of political capital.
And the Kremlin has wasted little time putting it to work. Elections are prohibited under Ukraine’s martial law, and voters, soldiers, candidates and election workers would need something more substantial than a temporary break in bombardment to organize a credible contest. Ukrainians are hardly desperate to hold them either.
The September poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) found that 71 percent of Ukrainians oppose holding elections now, versus 24 percent in favor of a wartime ballot. Nevertheless, Zelensky appears willing to let democracy take its course under the right conditions. On Sunday, the Ukrainian president told ABC News that, if Trump really wanted Ukraine to vote, he should persuade Putin to agree to "two months, 60 days" of a complete ceasefire.
Press secretary Dmitry Peskov, emboldened by Trump’s dismissal of Zelensky, gleefully rejected the notion of a 60-day ceasefire as a mere ploy for Kyiv to lick its wounds and regroup. He added: "I can say on (Putin’s) behalf with full responsibility that if they really want to hold elections there in Kyiv, then the Russian president, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, will be prepared to give orders not to strike Ukraine on election day." Peskov wasn’t improvising—Putin himself floated virtually the same offer in December 2025. Moscow’s position has always remained the same; what has changed is the authority it can invoke without fear of reprisals, because the White House has effectively sponsored its longstanding claim that Ukraine, not Russia, is standing in the way of peace.
"As I've already said, this problem could have been resolved many times before. However, for some reason, Zelensky doesn't want to make a deal," the U.S. president told reporters over the weekend. In a separate statement Monday, Peskov sought to further advance that narrative.
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