Why Zelensky Took the Gloves Off This Time With Trump
Staying quiet is riskier than speaking up, Ukrainian officials say, as President Trump goes further than ever in prioritizing Russia’s interests.
A firefighter at the site of a Russian strike on an industrial zone in Kyiv, Ukraine, this month.Jędrzej Nowicki for The New York Times
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Monday.Pool photo by Kylie Coope
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine at the European Union summit in Brussels last week.
Ludovic Marin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Reporting
from Kyiv, Ukraine
Oct. 20, 2026
Updated 4:39 p.m. ET
Original article contains useful links
Ukraine has been here before with President Trump. But this time, as the American leader plays down Russian violence and makes it harder for Kyiv to respond, Ukrainian leaders have taken a different tack. They have punched back.
A senior Ukrainian official likened it to a last chance to sound an alarm as a tsunami approaches. Even before the latest blowup with Mr. Trump, things were looking difficult for Ukraine. Daily strikes were ravaging its energy infrastructure and economy. Ukrainian air defenses were depleted. A difficult winter was drawing near.
Then Mr. Trump moved to buy Russian diesel, lifted sanctions on Russia and pressured Ukraine to stop hitting Russian oil refineries. Kyiv began reporting sudden restrictions on a Pentagon-funded satellite internet network, gaps in the sharing of U.S. military intelligence and delays in the delivery of American interceptor missiles. American officials deny any disruptions.
The clash reached a new pitch on Monday when Mr. Trump said that “Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine” and that “they haven’t been doing much” — even as Ukrainian civilian casualties from Russian attacks have reached new highs, rising by 85 percent last month compared with a year before, according to the United Nations.
Trump Envoy Meets With Zelensky Amid Deepening Rift Over Russia
video 1:10
Heiko Junge/NTB, via Reuters
There are signs that neither side is ready to fully abandon the relationship. More than a week into his war of words with Mr. Trump, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine spoke by telephone on Monday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mr. Zelensky then met in Oslo on Tuesday with Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s peace envoy, and during a news conference afterward, the Ukrainian president avoided any direct criticism of the United States.
“We are thankful that intelligence works now,” Mr. Zelensky said, “and I’m speaking about early warning, which is very important for our people, for children, adults, civilians, because we can hear when ballistic is coming.”
Still, Ukrainian leaders say that Mr. Trump has now gone so far in putting Russia’s interests ahead of Ukraine’s security that holding their tongue would be riskier than speaking up.
“People have to hear reality,” Mr. Zelensky said in an interview with ABC News last week. That reality, as the Ukrainian leader described it, was that Mr. Trump had an affinity for dictators, was on the wrong side of history in siding with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, and would only prolong the war by helping him.
Mr. Zelensky is not the first world leader and putative ally to have to decide how to respond to an attack from Mr. Trump. Like Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada and a few others, Mr. Zelensky decided this time to push back. Ukrainian politicians and analysts said that was the right decision, even with the dangers involved.
“Trump is openly pushing us to capitulate,” said Mykhailo Samus, a Ukrainian expert on security and military affairs. “That is the situation.”
Before now, Kyiv had sought to maintain a diplomatic, cautious tone with Mr. Trump. After the Oval Office meltdown in February 2025 between the American and Ukrainian presidents, Kyiv was quick to return to thanks and flattery. Ukraine continued to emphasize the importance of preserving the American partnership as Mr. Trump tried to end the war. Within a month, Kyiv offered an immediate, unconditional cease-fire, though Russia did not accept it.
Then as now, Ukraine hoped to avoid a cutoff in the crucial military and intelligence support that the United States still provides. Kyiv may now look to move toward de-escalation, having raised the alarm over Mr. Trump and facing the hard reality of a worsening position in the war, even as it holds Russian forces at bay on the front.
After speaking with Mr. Rubio on Monday, Mr. Zelensky wrote on social media: “Thank you to everyone in America who supports fair approaches!” Mr. Trump went unmentioned.
Vitaly Portnikov, a political commentator in Ukraine, said Mr. Trump’s attacks had put Mr. Zelensky in a desperate situation. While the Ukrainian leader attacked Mr. Trump’s character at times, he chose to emphasize facts on the ground, with his administration publicly acknowledging the problems Ukraine faced as a result of American restrictions.
Mr. Zelensky got a chance to reiterate those problems during a video call on Monday with a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers, presumably hoping that domestic political pressure would restrain Mr. Trump from going further.
The American president has swung away from and back toward Ukraine several times, and another swing is possible. The midterm elections, which are driving some of Mr. Trump’s moves on Russia, could scramble the political landscape again.
But Mr. Portnikov took Mr. Zelensky’s dialogue with Mr. Rubio, who is currently visiting India, as a good omen.
“If the Ukrainian president is making forceful statements directed at the United States while the secretary of state takes the time to speak with him during a trip to Asia, it suggests that the Trump administration is not prepared for a rupture in U.S.-Ukrainian relations,” Mr. Portnikov said.
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Nataliia Novosolova contributed reporting.
Maria Varenikova covers Ukraine and its war with Russia.
-- See more on article: Russia-Ukraine War, U.S. Politics, Vladimir Putin, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky
-- JB: Read 380 [reader] comments: always fascinating, suggesting that Americans -- agree with them or not -- are no idiots.
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