‘Putin is laughing’ over US diesel deal, Zelenskiy says
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has received a strong show of support in London, meeting UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and King Charles after his relationship with the United States took a sharp turn for the worse.
Zelenskiy was given the red-carpet treatment, arriving in the United Kingdom after another night of heavy Russian attacks.
The diplomatic display, which included a 25-minute audience with the King and a ceremonial guard in Downing Street, echoed Zelenskiy’s February 2025 visit to London shortly after he had clashed with US President Donald Trump and his deputy JD Vance.
“My message to the Ukrainian people could not be clearer, we are with you for as long as it takes, and we will go further and faster in our support to back your courageous fight for peace in Europe,” Burnham said in a statement before Wednesday’s meeting.
At the start of the Downing Street meeting, Zelenskiy said Ukraine still relied on its partnership with the US.
Trump said at the weekend Zelenskiy should be replaced as Ukraine’s leader, days after he cut a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to lift sanctions on Russian diesel exports.
The UK has said it does not support the US-Russia diesel deal, and called for allies to keep up the economic pressure on Russia.
In an interview with podcaster Piers Morgan, Zelenskiy said it was painful when Trump sided with Russia over Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said that while an energy ceasefire “is okay” and “some step to peace,” it was not respected by Russia which continued its aerial bombardment of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“It is a pity that we are losing a strong partner,” Zelenskiy said, apparently referring to the US.
He added: “Now Putin is laughing because, I mean, this is for him, simple victory – this diesel deal.”
Burnham said the last few days had been “very dark and difficult” for Ukraine but that the UK remained a staunch ally.
“We’re behind you, and that will not change,” he said.
Earlier he announced the planned delivery of 45 million pounds ($A85 million) of surface-to-air missiles used to target jet-powered Russian drones, with 10 million pounds of that package fast-tracked to meet an urgent need in Ukraine.
Burnham has asked officials to draw up further sanctions, military aid and fiscal support, and his foreign and finance ministers have been lobbying allies to follow the UK in banning maritime services that support Russian liquefied natural gas exports.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak accused the Ukrainian army of attacking two refineries, the Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.
Novak said oil processing plants in the Ryazan and Saratov regions had been attacked.
“We see that Ukraine shows no movement towards an energy ceasefire,” the minister said.
Ukrainian officials immediately dismissed Novak’s statement as disinformation.
Dmytro Lytvyn, communications adviser to Zelenskiy, told the news website Ukrainska Pravda that refineries had not been attacked.
There had, however, been a successful attack on a data processing centre, he said.
with PA and DPA
Reuters