Trump says Zelensky should choose someone else to negotiate for Ukraine
Trump criticized Volodymyr Zelensky, said Ukraine should select another negotiator and claimed Russia had shown restraint, while also signaling openness to nuclear talks with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.
President Donald Trump said Monday, October 19, that Ukraine should choose someone other than President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate an end to Russia’s war, pairing that criticism with a claim that Moscow had shown restraint in recent days.
“Zelenskiy should get somebody else to negotiate to end war,” Reuters reported Trump saying during an exchange with reporters. The remark escalated Trump’s criticism of the Ukrainian leader as Washington and Kyiv remain at odds over the terms and pace of U.S.-backed diplomacy.
Trump’s comments about Zelensky and Russia
Trump also said, “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine. They haven’t been doing much,” according to the Kyiv Independent’s account of the exchange. He added that Russia had not acted at the level it could have and said he appreciated that. The statement was Trump’s assessment, not an independently established description of battlefield conditions.
The remarks came amid continued Russian attacks reported by Ukrainian authorities. The Kyiv Independent said a daytime drone strike in a public park killed six people, including two children, on October 19. It also reported that Russia had launched ballistic missiles at Kyiv and targeted critical energy sites overnight. Those events complicate Trump’s characterization of Moscow’s conduct as restrained.
Trump separately argued that the United States had given extensive support to Ukraine without receiving enough in return. “We’ve given a lot to Ukraine. They’ve given nothing to us,” he said, according to reporting on the exchange. His comments continued a recurring effort to place responsibility for ending the war on Zelensky, while offering comparatively favorable language about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Neither Reuters nor the Kyiv Independent reported an immediate response from Zelensky to Trump’s suggestion that another Ukrainian representative should take over negotiations. Zelensky remains Ukraine’s elected president and has led its wartime diplomacy since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Possible talks with Putin and Xi
Trump was also asked whether he would join a three-way meeting with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. He said he was open to such a gathering, but described nuclear disarmament—not a Ukraine settlement—as the main subject he would want to discuss.
Trump said he could discuss Ukraine with Xi and portrayed China as having stayed relatively removed from the conflict. Beijing, however, has maintained close relations with Moscow and has faced Western criticism over trade and other support that officials say helps sustain Russia’s war economy. China says it is not a party to the war and has presented itself as a possible peacemaker.
The president also defended his recent approach to Russia, including sanctions waivers, and said Washington was negotiating with the Kremlin over the release of a prominent hostage. He linked his favorable description of Putin’s conduct to Russia’s actions concerning Iran, saying Moscow could have done more to help Tehran but had done comparatively little.
What the statement changes—and what it does not
Trump’s remarks sharpen the administration’s public pressure on Zelensky, but they did not amount to a formal change in U.S. recognition of Ukraine’s government or announce a new negotiating process. Any Ukrainian decision about who represents the country in talks would belong to Kyiv, while a summit involving Trump, Putin and Xi would require agreement on participants, location and an agenda.
The practical significance will depend on whether the White House follows the rhetoric with changes to military support, intelligence sharing, sanctions or diplomatic terms. For now, the exchange is a new public signal that Trump is questioning Zelensky’s role in peace talks while describing Russia’s recent conduct in more approving terms.
Sources and image credit
Reporting on Trump’s call for another Ukrainian negotiator: Reuters. Additional quotations and context on the reported Russian attacks: The Kyiv Independent.
Image: President Donald Trump meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago on December 28, 2025, photographed by Daniel Torok for the White House. Sourced via Wikimedia Commons; the original is also hosted by the White House on Flickr. Public domain as an official U.S. government work. Center-cropped and resized to 1600×900; no text added.