Trump: Zelensky 'More Difficult Than Putin' as EU Backs Kyiv

President Trump escalated his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the eve of a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels, saying Zelensky has been “more difficult to deal with than Putin,” according to the BBC. The remark landed as EU leaders moved to shore up support for Kyiv, deepening a visible rift between Washington and its European allies over how to handle Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Trump also described recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory as a “disgrace,” according to Reuters, a reference to Ukraine’s campaign against Russian refineries and airfields that has continued despite pressure from Washington to pull back. The dispute follows Zelensky’s decision to resume strikes on Russian refineries after a brief ceasefire collapsed, a move Trump had already publicly condemned earlier this week.

EU leaders close ranks around Kyiv

Despite the friction with Washington, European leaders gathering in Brussels signaled continued backing for Zelensky, per Reuters. The summit comes as the bloc weighs its own financial and military commitments to Ukraine amid uncertainty over the scale of continued US support under the Trump administration. European officials have repeatedly stressed that a durable end to the war requires security guarantees for Kyiv, a position that has at times put Brussels at odds with Trump’s approach of pushing both sides toward a negotiated settlement.

The rift adds a layer of uncertainty to the broader Western posture toward Moscow at a moment when Ukraine has intensified strikes deep inside Russian territory, including an attack that damaged six jets at a Russian airfield and a wider campaign targeting Russian data centers as part of what Kyiv has termed economic warfare.

Trump’s comparison to Putin

Trump’s framing of Zelensky as harder to negotiate with than Putin marks one of his sharpest public characterizations of the Ukrainian leader to date, according to the BBC’s reporting. The comment did not come with further elaboration on specific points of disagreement, but it follows a pattern of public friction between the two leaders over the pace and terms of any settlement with Moscow, as well as over Ukraine’s willingness to strike targets inside Russia rather than limit operations to its own territory.

Zelensky has used the run-up to the Brussels summit to press EU leaders directly for continued military and financial backing, framing Ukraine’s position as dependent on sustained Western support regardless of shifts in Washington’s tone, per Reuters.

What it means for the war

The public disagreement does not appear to have altered the operational picture on the ground. Ukrainian strikes on Russian refining and military infrastructure have continued through the week, and Russia has not signaled any change in its own campaign. Oil markets, which have been sensitive to disruptions tied to the wider war and the parallel standoff over Iran’s nuclear program, showed only modest movement as traders weighed the prospect of additional US sanctions on Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers, according to Reuters.

For Kyiv, the EU summit represents an opportunity to lock in European commitments that would not be contingent on the state of the relationship between Trump and Zelensky. For Washington, the renewed criticism suggests the administration continues to view Ukraine’s strike campaign inside Russia as an obstacle to the kind of negotiated end to the war that Trump has said he wants to broker.

Neither the White House nor Zelensky’s office issued a statement beyond the remarks reported by the BBC and Reuters. The Brussels summit was scheduled to continue through the day, with EU officials expected to address both continued financial support for Ukraine and the bloc’s broader defense posture toward Russia.

This is a developing story and will be updated as the summit proceeds.