President Volodymyr Zelensky has pledged to end strikes on Russia and hold elections in Ukraine if Vladimir Putin agrees to a 60-day ceasefire.
His comments came amid a volcanic row with United States President Donald Trump, who declared it was time for a “new President” in Kyiv.
Mr Zelensky has also said his country is prepared to halt its attacks on Russian oil refineries.
“Please tell Putin, give us two months, 60 days of total ceasefire, 60 days, and we will organise elections,” he told ABC News.
He made the announcement after Washington sealed a deal with Putin to release millions of tonnes of diesel onto the global market.
Mr Trump is understood to have inked the deal after Ukraine defied his previous demands for Kyiv to cease its bombing campaign on Russian energy infrastructure.
The strikes forced Russia to impose a diesel export ban, piling further pressure on the global energy market as it reeled from the US war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“We told them, do whatever you want, but don’t hit the diesel fuel because there’s a big problem, a big shortage. And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel,” Mr Trump fumed, speaking to reporters outside the White House.
“He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel, because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world… So he’d better damn well stop,” the US leader warned.
Mr Trump went one step further, declaring it was time for Ukraine to “get a new leader who can make a deal”.
In the wake of the row, Mr Zelensky has offered to cease strikes on Russian refineries and hold elections in Kyiv in exchange for Moscow ending its bombardment of Ukraine’s own energy infrastructure.
The Ukrainian leader insisted any such arrangement must be underpinned by “real guarantees”.
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“It is feasible to stop strikes on energy today, but Putin does not want to do this,” he stated.
Appearing to respond indirectly to Mr Trump’s comments, Mr Zelensky stressed “the real cause of the war in Europe is Russia and Russia alone”.
Ukraine has been steadily ramping up its aerial campaign against the Kremlin’s energy industry in recent weeks.
On Saturday, the Samara linear production and dispatching station near Prosvet was hit for a second time, following an earlier precision attack on October 7 that destroyed four large-capacity crude oil storage reservoirs at the site.
The facility is a critical junction that blends petroleum streams into standardised export-grade Urals crude and supplies refined fuel directly to the Russian armed forces.
Ukrainian missiles and drones also hit the Yug Rusi oil terminal in Rostov-on-Don and multiple corporate data centres across the Vladimir, Kaluga and Ryazan regions.
Kyiv officials have insisted that degrading Russia’s refining capacity both starves frontline military units of fuel and erodes the state revenues that bankroll Moscow’s war effort.
Amid the campaign, diesel prices hit record highs, with a gallon costing £4.74, up from £2.78 12 months earlier.
Mr Trump faces increasing pressure to bring domestic American diesel prices under control as the US midterm elections approach.
Speaking to GB News this morning about the row between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said he “didn’t agree” with the US position.
“We don’t support the US decision on diesel. And as for President Zelensky, Ukraine chooses its leadership, not anyone else. Having been to Kyiv and seen firsthand the toll that Russia is taking on the Ukrainian people. I’m glad we have a strong leader in President Zelensky to get behind.
“In these situations, it’s our responsibility to try and bring our friends back together. That’s the leadership you can expect from Andy Burnham, from Ed Miliband allies.
“Our support has been rock solid across different Conservative and Labour prime ministers, and that will continue for as long as it takes until Ukraine secures their freedom,” he insisted.
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