US President Donald Trump has called Ukraine's renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries a "disgrace."
"Well, I think that's a disgrace," Trump told broadcaster Newsmax on Thursday when asked about Ukraine's renewed strikes, adding that they were driving up global energy prices.
The US leader criticised his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, asserting that he was less willing than Russian President Vladimir Putin to reach a compromise to end the war.
"It should end soon. I think they actually both would like to see it end," Trump said to Newsmax.
"But I think I find Zelenskyy to be more difficult to deal with than Putin."
Against the backdrop of weakening ties with Trump, Zelenskyy met NATO chief Mark Rutte in Brussels and held a string of bilateral meetings with European leaders before he was set to join an EU summit on Friday.
Diesel deal with Russia
The Ukrainian president had told The Financial Times that the pause in strikes against Russian refineries was "done" as Moscow was not abiding by ceasefire on hitting energy infrastructure that had been announced by Trump.
Trump has pressured Kiev to stop its attacks on Russian refineries, which he has blamed for the soaring energy prices ahead of the November midterm elections.
However, there has been a surge in energy costs after the US-Israeli war on Iran, which brought Iranian attacks on energy facilities and has largely shut the vital Strait of Hormuz.
Relations between Kiev and Washington have soured since last week, when Trump eased sanctions on Russia in exchange for Moscow releasing large amounts of diesel onto global markets.
Anger in Ukraine has been further heightened by outages to a critical US-provided satellite system that has hampered its military's ability to counter Russia's intense bombardments.
Ukraine uses the Starshield system from Elon Musk's SpaceX for battlefield communications, mid-range strikes on Russia-controlled territory and interceptor drones.
It is separate from the parallel Starlink civilian satellite system, which Ukraine also uses but not for offensive operations.
Speeds were slower on Wednesday, affecting connectivity, officials said.
But tech billionaire Musk, who has also called for Zelenskyy to be replaced as leader, said his SpaceX company was not behind any disruption to the Starshield system.
