President Trump said Sunday he is “in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine,” and accused Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy of not wanting to end the war.
In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Mr. Trump criticized Zelensky for “using Diesel Refineries in Russia as a target” and alleged”he doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did.”
“He could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now. His country is in shambles, a large portion of his land is lost, his oceans and seas are gone, and his male population is low, wounded, and/or dead,” Mr. Trump wrote.
The comments come amid a deepening rift between the Mr. Trump and Zelensky, with the U.S. president criticizing his Ukrainian counterpart for attacking Russian oil infrastructure.
AFP via Getty Images 
Mr. Trump said Sunday that he decided to hold off on implementing new sanctions on Russia because he doesn’t “want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table.”
Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social that “great progress is being made, and that includes current hostage negotiations! Signing that document at this time will do that, and I can sign it later, or any time that I want!”
Zelenskyy earlier said that while he trusted Mr. Trump, siding with Moscow would be a tragedy and a “historic mistake” for Washington.
“People want to forget what’s going on. But we can’t give this possibility to forget, or to change reality, or to change the truth,” Zelenskyy said. “We can’t compare me and Putin. He’s aggressor. He occupied us. He killed adults and children, his soldiers. He’s a terrorist. And that’s why I hope that President Trump will be very clear with this position.”
AFP via Getty Images 
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Zelenskyy said waiving sanctions against Russia would strengthen Putin’s war effort. He also said U.S.-Ukraine intelligence sharing had resumed after being “blocked for some period of time.”
Later Sunday, Zelenskyy said on social media that he had spoken with U.S. presidential envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner about the results of an Oct. 9 meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian negotiating teams in Miami, as well as “next steps in diplomacy.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine and Russia continued trading strikes over the weekend. Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday it had intercepted more than 1,015 Ukraininan drones over 15 Russian regions, Crimea and the Black Sea.
At least one person was killed and five others wounded in an attack on St. Petersburg which also sparked fires at the Petersburg Oil Terminal and the Ruchi oil depot, according to local government.
Olena Znak/Anadolu via Getty Images 
A logistics center belonging to Russian retailer Ozon and a data center operated by Russian tech giant VK were also targeted, the companies confirmed.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news agency Tass that Kyiv was “resisting” Moscow’s invasion but could not “change the current course of events.”
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, a woman was killed and a 6-year-old girl was among at least two other people wounded in two Russian attacks on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, local officials said Sunday.