DOMINANT ANGLE
London sees Trump's outburst against Zelensky as posturing: expensive diesel, the Strait of Hormuz closed, and Russian refineries hit explain the call for a "new president".
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
On Saturday, October 10, Trump said "it's time for Ukraine to get a new president" and demanded that Zelensky stop striking Russian refineries (BBC, The Independent).
- 02
The agreement announced on Friday, October 9, suspends sanctions on Russian diesel until April 7 (BBC).
- 03
American diesel would have gone from $3.68 to $6.28 per gallon in one year (Daily Mail).
ANALYSIS
London, 11 October 2026. The British press reports Donald Trump's outburst against Volodymyr Zelensky primarily as a fuel issue. On Saturday, 10 October, in front of the White House, the American president stated: "it's time for Ukraine to get a new president", suggesting to Ukrainians to choose "a new leader who can make a deal". The BBC recalls that these comments respond to Kyiv's criticism of the agreement announced on Friday, 9 October, with Moscow, which suspends sanctions on Russian diesel exports until 7 April. Zelensky sees this as a gift to Vladimir Putin, which would provide Moscow with the means to continue the war.
The energy context structures the narrative. According to the BBC, the war against Iran launched by the United States and Israel has led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world's oil products transit. Russians and Ukrainians are intensifying their strikes on each other's energy infrastructure, which further tightens the markets. Trump reproaches Zelensky for continuing to authorize attacks on Russian refineries, "a global problem": "He'd better damn well stop".
The Daily Mail emphasizes the price at the pump: American diesel would have risen from $3.68 per gallon a year ago to $6.28 on Friday, and nearly two million tonnes of Russian oil would be imported to the United States. The newspaper cites an American official interviewed by Axios, according to whom Zelensky "is misreading the room" and is eroding the goodwill acquired with Trump in six months. It links the whole situation to the upcoming midterm elections, which America will face in a few weeks.
The Independent insists on the political contradiction: the agreement raises questions about the sanctions against Russia promulgated last month. The daily also notes that Trump has repeated that, without a "rigged" election, the war would never have started, an assertion that he qualifies as a denial, and that Zelensky "could have settled this war many times", according to the American president.
On the Russian side, Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin's emissary, judged the intervention "iconic and historic" and affirmed that Ukraine needs leadership "focused on peace". The three titles thus place the war in Ukraine on the same level as the American fuel crisis: it is the price of diesel, more than the fate of the Ukrainian leader, that serves as a guiding thread.
