President Donald Trump denounced Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday amid rising tensions over a new agreement for Russia to supply diesel to the U.S., saying Ukraine should “get a new president.”

“I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal, because he could have made many deals, and for some reason, he never does,” Trump told reporters, adding, “I think it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president.”

Trump’s barbed remarks about Zelenskyy came one day after he riled Ukraine by announcing an agreement for Russia to supply diesel to American and global markets. The deal includes temporarily easing sanctions on Russian fuel that had been in place to squeeze Moscow financially over the Ukraine war.

In his remarks Saturday, Trump said his administration had warned Ukraine not to strike Russian refineries because it may impact the already strained global diesel supplies.

“We said, ‘You can do whatever you want to Russia. Don’t hit the refineries because that’s a world problem,’” Trump said. “And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel.”

“He better damn well stop,” Trump warned on the South Lawn of the White House before heading to a rally in Tennessee to campaign for Republicans.

Gas prices around the globe have spiked because of Trump’s unpopular war with Iran, creating consumer anxiety as Republicans fret over a potential blowout loss in the midterm elections in just over three weeks.

Trump’s deal with Russia was met with backlash from Democrats who accused the president of betraying an ally to boost Republicans’ chances in November.

“Trump is doing a deal with the devil to try to help his flailing political fortunes from the shockingly high diesel prices caused by his own reckless, illegal war in the Middle East,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., wrote on X, “After Trump’s war with Iran caused oil prices to spike, the President is now considering bankrolling Russia’s slaughter of Ukrainian civilians.”

Energy policy experts have expressed skepticism that the deal with Russia will lead to lower gas prices in the U.S. or globally.

“If we get diesel from Russia, basically it means that their existing customers are not going to get it and they’ll have to go somewhere else, and that will keep the price basically where it is now,” Michael Lynch, distinguished fellow at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, told The Associated Press, likening it to “shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.”

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