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Defense & Security · Europe

Trump calls for a new Ukraine negotiator and faults Zelensky

Donald Trump said Ukraine should choose someone other than Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate an end to its war with Russia. Trump argued that Ukraine could have reached a better deal earlier if Zelensky had followed his advice.

AI-assisted synthesis · Based on 4 outlets' reporting · Article text read from 2 of 4 outlets · 1 article captured only in partHow it's made

View timeline · 11 entries
4 outlets2 regionsLatest reporting 3 min readNo new reporting in 6 days
Coverage: MixedL 1 · C 1 · R 2
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Photo: Daniel Torok / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

What happened

Key facts

  • Donald Trump said someone other than Volodymyr Zelensky should negotiate for Ukraine (per democrata.es, New York Post).
  • Trump said it may be time for Zelensky to let another person negotiate for Ukraine and said Zelensky was not helping much (per democrata.es, New York Post).
  • Trump said Ukraine could have reached a better deal earlier if Zelensky had followed his advice (per New York Post, democrata.es).
  • Trump referred to his February 2025 Oval Office meeting with Zelensky, where he said Ukraine risked losing the war and relied on U.S. military aid for a strong negotiating position (per New York Post, democrata.es).
  • Zelensky said he was only standing up for Ukraine’s interests (per New York Post, democrata.es).
  • Trump said he was open to meeting Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in China next month during the ASEAN meeting (per New York Post).
  • 10News reported that Ukraine launched one of its biggest drone attacks on Russia that year (per 10news.com, democrata.es, New York Post).
  • The Boston Globe reported that Zelensky urged support for new U.S. sanctions on Russia that Trump had put on hold (per The Boston Globe, democrata.es, New York Post).

The brief

Donald Trump called for Ukraine to put someone other than Volodymyr Zelensky in charge of negotiations with Russia, arguing that Ukraine could have secured a better deal earlier if Zelensky had followed his advice. Trump made the comments to reporters outside the White House, before travelling to Kansas, and later repeated that another person should negotiate for Ukraine.

Trump said Zelensky was “not helping much,” according to democrata.es. The outlet described the remarks as a renewed challenge to Zelensky’s role and reported that Trump had called for a new Ukrainian president the previous week. The New York Post likewise reported that Trump urged Ukraine to replace Zelensky as its negotiator, framing the proposal around ending the war.

Trump linked his criticism to an earlier meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office in February 2025. According to the New York Post, Trump said then that Ukraine faced the danger of losing the war and depended on U.S. military aid to negotiate from a strong position.

Trump now says Zelensky could have obtained a better deal by taking his advice; that is Trump’s assessment, not an independently established outcome.

Zelensky’s stated position, as reported by the New York Post, was that he was “only standing up for Ukraine’s interests.” The two accounts differ in emphasis: democrata.es focuses on Trump questioning Zelensky’s suitability to negotiate, while the New York Post adds Trump’s claim that Ukraine could have settled the war sooner and recounts the February 2025 meeting.

Other headlines point to additional disputes in U.S.-Ukraine policy toward Russia. 10News reported that Ukraine launched one of its biggest drone attacks on Russia that year. The Boston Globe reported that Zelensky urged support for new U.S. sanctions on Russia that Trump had put on hold.

Those headlines establish the reported actions and positions, but not their timing relative to Trump’s negotiating remarks or any direct connection between them. Trump also said he was open to meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in China next month during the ASEAN meeting, according to the New York Post.

The report presents this as a separate diplomatic possibility alongside Trump’s call for a new Ukrainian negotiator; it does not say that such a meeting has been agreed or scheduled.

Why it matters

  • Ukraine’s government is directly affected: Trump is publicly questioning Zelensky’s role in negotiations over the war with Russia and urging a change in who represents Ukraine.
  • Trump’s stated mechanism is negotiating leverage: he says Ukraine relied on U.S. military aid for a strong position and could have obtained a better deal by following his advice.
  • The New York Post reports that Zelensky says he is standing up for Ukraine’s interests, setting out his stated rationale against Trump’s criticism.
  • The Boston Globe headline reports a separate point of friction: Zelensky urged U.S. support for sanctions on Russia that Trump had put on hold.

What to watch next

  • Whether Zelensky or Ukraine changes who leads its negotiations with Russia.
  • Whether Trump takes up his stated openness to meet Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in China during the ASEAN meeting next month.
  • Whether Trump changes his position on the new U.S. sanctions on Russia that the Boston Globe says he put on hold.
  • Whether Ukraine carries out further drone attacks on Russia after the attack reported by 10News.

How it's being covered

Coverage analysisShow details
4 source articles · 4 unique outlets
Outlet political mix: Mixed· 1 Left · 1 Center · 2 Right
Where the outlets are based: US/Canada 50% · Europe 25% · Other 25%
Outlet political mix
Mixed
Left
Center
Right
1 outlet
1 outlet
2 outlets
The marker shows coverage balance: each unique outlet counts once.
Geography
Where the outlets covering this story are based.
4 unique outletsDominant coverage: US/Canada
How we measure coverage

How outlets' accounts compare

1 framing difference · 5 uncorroborated claims · 2 information gaps
The reports repeat the same account with different emphasis; its central claims are not independently confirmed in the reporting Updat3 read.Compared across 2 reports whose article text Updat3 read; 2 other outlets were checked by headline only.
Framing / emphasis differences
Sources emphasise different angles, actors or consequences of the same reporting.
  • democrata.es emphasizes Trump’s renewed challenge to Zelensky’s role and his statement that Zelensky is not helping much; the New York Post emphasizes Trump’s claim that Ukraine could have settled the war earlier by following his advice.
Updat3: These are differences of emphasis, not disputes about what is reported. They do not show that the reported claims are true.
One-sided or uncorroborated claims
Claims that come from one party or one source family and are not independently corroborated.
  • Trump attributes the possibility of a better earlier deal to Zelensky following his advice; Zelensky’s reported position is that he is standing up for Ukraine’s interests.
  • Trump’s claim that Ukraine could have secured a better deal earlier is his assessment; the sources do not establish what would have happened under a different negotiating approach.
  • The New York Post reports Trump’s openness to a meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, but does not establish that the meeting is agreed or scheduled.
  • Trump said Zelensky was “not helping much,” as reported by democrata.es.
  • Zelensky said he was “only standing up for Ukraine’s interests,” as reported by the New York Post.
Updat3: Not independently corroborated yet — treat as a claim, not an established fact.
Not established by the reporting
Information the available reporting does not contain or confirm. This is a gap, not a disagreement.
  • The sources do not explain what advice Trump says Zelensky should have followed or identify any proposed replacement negotiator.
  • The sources do not provide independent evidence about the likely terms or outcome of a different negotiating approach.
Updat3: Updat3 cannot conclude anything about this from the current sources.

Timeline

Developments from this story's sources, dated background we compiled and fact-checked, and our earlier coverage. Each row says which.
  1. Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom signed the Budapest Memorandum, recording security assurances to Ukraine.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  2. NATO declared at its Bucharest Summit that Ukraine and Georgia would become members.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  3. The conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014, after Ukraine’s Euromaidan protests and the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych.
    Background · from our historical context
  4. Vladimir Putin signed a treaty with Crimean leaders to incorporate Crimea into Russia; Ukraine rejected the annexation.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  5. Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France endorsed the Minsk II agreement on steps to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  6. The United States’ role in Ukraine’s defense took shape after Russia’s February 24, 2022, full-scale invasion.
    Background · from our historical context
  7. Volodymyr Zelensky presented Ukraine’s ten-point peace formula.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  8. Donald Trump was inaugurated for a second, non-consecutive term as U.S. president.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  9. Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky met at the White House; their planned minerals agreement was not signed.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  10. President Donald Trump signed the Graham Act, which included sanctions and tariffs intended to increase pressure on Russia.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3
  11. President Donald Trump announced an immediate energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
    Background · compiled and fact-checked by Updat3

How we got here

In the week before his later comments, President Donald Trump said Ukraine needed a new president, according to the accounts provided.

An earlier point of friction between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky came at their February 28, 2025, Oval Office meeting, where Trump later said he had warned Zelensky that Ukraine risked losing the war and that U.S. military aid gave Kyiv a strong position.

Related developments1 story

Original sources

4 articles from 4 outlets

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