Trump wants to make Zelenskyy his midterms scapegoat

President Donald Trump is blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for diesel costs that climbed after the U. S. went to war with Iran in late February, MS NOW reports. Opinion writer Hayes Brown argues this is an effort to deflect from Trump's political troubles ahead of the midterms, including voter anger over prices and forecasts of Republican losses in Congress.

The dispute began after Trump announced a plan to buy Russian diesel through an arrangement with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Experts cited by MS NOW say it would send billions of dollars to Moscow and probably leave global prices unchanged. When Zelenskyy criticized it, Trump pointed to Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries and said on Oct. 10 that it was "time for Ukraine to get a new president." A claimed energy ceasefire was denied by both countries, and Ukraine resumed hitting Russian energy sites.

Since then, Ukraine's access to the Starshield satellite service was interrupted. Elon Musk said the U. S. government made that call, and Reuters reported it came from within the White House, which denied Trump decided it. Trump also postponed a new round of Russia sanctions, drawing bipartisan criticism.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →