Zelenskyy: Trump can help end war, but he should direct the rhetoric he uses towards me at Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes US President Donald Trump can help end Russia's war against Ukraine if he changes his rhetoric towards Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin.

"Trump can make Putin sit down at the negotiating table very easily. Trump should direct the rhetoric he uses towards me at Putin. He has sanctions against Russia on his desk – it was Congress, not him, that voted for them – and he can implement them. Perhaps he has a special relationship with Putin, perhaps it's something else – I don't know what the reason is," Zelenskyy said in an interview with Steven Bartlett on The Diary of a CEO podcast.

Zelenskyy also described as unfair Trump's statements suggesting that the Ukrainian president is to blame for rising diesel prices in the US.

Zelenskyy explained that Ukraine is striking Russian oil refineries in response to attacks by the aggressor state on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. An energy ceasefire could change the situation, but Trump has so far been unable to reach an agreement on the issue.

"President Trump cannot reach an agreement with Putin on this. Putin is refusing him. So the president decides to blame me rather than Putin. He tells Americans that prices in the US are rising because we are striking Russia. That is completely untrue. We have good relations with Trump, and I think it is unfair that he blames me. He is changing the narrative," he added.

Trump previously claimed that Zelenskyy does not want to end the war and that Ukraine lay in ruins.

This came after the US president said he had spoken to Putin and reached an agreement with him on supplies of Russian diesel fuel to the US and global markets.