Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked "real leaders" for their support at an EU summit today after Donald Trump branded Ukraine's attacks on Russia a "disgrace" and claimed President Zelensky is "more difficult than Putin."
European leaders at an EU summit in Brussels on Friday rallied around Mr Zelensky to show their continued support for Ukraine following Trump's latest comments. His fresh outburst was made as reports emerged that it was his government that stifled Ukraine's life-saving military access to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite communications.
Trump's strangling of Ukraine's internet communications - which helps early warning signals and military communications - happened as Russia is known to be preparing more attacks.
Latest spat over oil refinery attack
The latest spat blew up after Ukraine defied Trump's demands to stop hitting Russia's oil installations by attacking a refinery outside Moscow with kamikaze drones. Zelensky had paused the attacks for three days at Trump's request for a ceasefire on energy targets, but said on Thursday they would resume because Moscow had never stopped.
Tensions between Washington and Kyiv have escalated recently over the US-Russia diesel deal and restrictions on Ukraine's satellite communications on the battlefield. The Ukrainian leader had branded Trump's diesel deal with Russia a "gift" to Vladimir Putin since it will allow the Kremlin to pay for their war on Ukraine.
The US President stormed: "All he's doing is making the world oil price higher. Well, I think that's a disgrace. There are a lot of targets you can hit, 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."
EU leaders rally round Ukraine
Zelensky thanked "real leaders" for their support as he arrived at an EU summit in Brussels on Friday. He was flanked by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.
Von der Leyen said: "Of course we supported President Trump's energy ceasefire but we've seen that Russia did not respect it, not a single minute." She had earlier told Zelensky: "We stand by your side, we support you as we did in the other winters."
Trump's bizarre claims against Zelensky - whose civilians are facing daily attacks from Russian missiles - were issued despite his Iran war causing a spike in oil prices. Russia is also known to be building a vast jet-powered drone launch pad just inside the border with Ukraine, in preparation for a deadly winter onslaught.
Drone base and Starlink concerns
The new base in southwestern Rostov region is a huge threat to Ukraine's civilians who are facing a difficult winter. It is feared the site is designed to launch Russia's latest Geran-4 and Geran-5 drones, which can reach speeds of up to 370 mph. And Zelensky has already said the slowing down of Starlink access by the States may have cost lives in Ukraine, offering civilians little opportunity to flee to shelters before a missile attack.
UK defence secretary Wes Streeting said after a meeting with his US counterpart Pete Hegseth that Ukraine's Starlink access had been restored. He said: "Unsurprisingly we did discuss Starlink. It's not yet clear to us in the UK what happened, why the service interruption occurred. But I am reassured, and was reassured directly by Secretary Hegseth, that the service has been restored."
Moscow has said it had never agreed to the Trump energy ceasefire that the US President suddenly announced last week. Deadly attacks on Ukraine continued overnight, with several people killed in a Russian drone strike in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv. The attacks left some 270,000 households without power after strikes in the western Volyn region, local officials said.
