American billionaire Elon Musk endorsed US President Donald Trump’s statements calling for a change in Ukraine’s leadership, writing on X that President Volodymyr Zelensky had “gone too far.”
Musk made the remarks while commenting on video footage of Trump criticizing Zelensky for failing to finalize a negotiated settlement with Russia despite having multiple opportunities to do so.
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In the video, Trump asserted that the Ukrainian electorate should select a new president capable of reaching an agreement with Moscow.
Musk’s post marks the latest in a series of public criticisms directed at the Ukrainian head of state.
In February 2025, the tech entrepreneur claimed that Ukrainians held unfavorable views of Zelensky, and in March 2025, he called for national elections in Ukraine, asserting that the incumbent president would lose.
Trump’s remarks and criticism of refinery strikes
Musk’s comments align with a public defense mounted by Trump on Saturday regarding a bilateral commercial diesel agreement reached with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to reporters roughly a month before the US midterm elections as retail diesel prices approached $6 per gallon, Trump blamed Ukraine’s long-range strikes against Russian oil refineries for causing disruptions across international energy and agricultural markets.
“He wants to make problems for the world, for our farmers with diesel,” Trump told reporters, arguing that Zelensky had prolonged the war unnecessarily.
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Russian media reports say Trump’s envoys could travel to Moscow within two weeks following a call in which Putin rejected peace talks.
“Zelensky could have settled this war many, many times, but he chooses not to,” Trump said, renewing his calls for political change in Kyiv. “I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.”
The US president’s calls for a leadership transition in Kyiv drew a rebuttal from Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who affirmed on Sunday that only the Ukrainian electorate holds the legal and sovereign authority to determine national governance during wartime. Sybiha stated that external criticism only demonstrates that Zelensky is performing his duties effectively, emphasizing that the Ukrainian head of state retains broad public support.
Trump’s comments followed his announcement on Friday, Oct. 9, of a commercial arrangement with Putin under which Moscow agreed to deliver over 300,000 metric tons of diesel immediately, scaling up to 1 million tons in subsequent phases through 2027.
To facilitate the shipments, the US Treasury Department issued a temporary sanctions waiver running through April 2027.
The diesel deal was announced while a Ukrainian delegation was engaged in multilateral security consultations with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Miami. Zelensky described the Miami talks as a “smokescreen” for bilateral economic concessions to the Kremlin.
Under the framework promoted by the administration, Kyiv has been urged to unilaterally halt drone interdiction operations against Russian oil refineries to stabilize fuel benchmarks.
However, the proposal contained no reciprocal condition requiring the Russian military to halt missile and drone strikes against Ukraine’s power and heating infrastructure.
Officials in Kyiv have reiterated that Ukraine will not suspend its asymmetric campaign against Russian refining installations without an enforceable, mutual energy ceasefire.
Ukrainian lawmakers and foreign policy officials have emphasized that degrading Russian downstream energy hubs remains necessary to constrain fuel supplies for Russian military operations and diminish state revenues funding the Kremlin’s wartime budget.
