President Trump said last week that he made a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import diesel fuel from Russia, which would require the U.S. Treasury Department to lift oil sanctions imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
[NOTE: In August, Trump signed an executive order in which he determined “that it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.”]
Trump also said that Ukraine should “get a new leader” because Zelensky hasn’t stopped bombing Russia’s oil refineries and won’t give in to Putin’s demand for territory in Ukraine. Trump said, “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal.”
Reporter: Ukrainians are suffering from the attacks.
Trump: I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal. It’s time for Ukraine to get a new president. https://t.co/n0bldxMEnz
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 10, 2026
[NOTE: While campaigning in 2025, Trump repeatedly said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours, or on “day one” if elected.]
On Sunday, the world’s richest man and key Trump and Republican donor Elon Musk echoed the President’s idea and wrote on his social media platform X: “I agree, time for Ukraine to get a new leader.”
Republican U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) replied to Musk: “Here’s the real question: Why don’t you turn on Starlink over Russia so the Ukrainians can take out Russian ballistic missile launchers? One small action and you immediately save children from dying every day. Refusing to do so is like watching your friend die while you hold his EpiPen over him. It’s that simple.”
Here’s the real question: Why don’t you turn on Starlink over Russia so the Ukrainians can take out Russian ballistic missile launchers? One small action and you immediately save children from dying every day. Refusing to do so is like watching your friend die while you hold his EpiPen over him. It’s that simple.
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) October 11, 2026
[NOTE: Crenshaw was the only GOP House member who ran for re-election in Texas without Trump’s endorsement this year. He lost the GOP primary by 15 points to Texas state Rep. Steve Toth, who faces Democratic candidate Shaun Finnie, an investment banker and corporate lawyer specializing in oil and gas transactions. The last time a Democrat was elected to serve Texas’s 2nd Congressional District was in 2002, when Rep. Jim Turner was re-elected.]
Ukraine-focused commentator “Jay in Kyiv,” who has more than 200,000 followers and regularly argues that Trump, Musk and Putin are aligned against Ukraine and the Western democratic order, replied to Crenshaw.
“Because the global fascist takeover that the Musk/Putin/Trump/Thiel cabal is pushing at breakneck speed must include Putin,” he wrote. “It’s a partnership. If Ukraine wins, then democracy wins, and if democracy wins, Putin is gone and the plan for the implementation of global fascism that this cabal plans is toast. Everything is about Ukraine. For them, Ukraine must lose. Now, Russia and Iran, using Houthis as proxy, will destroy Saudi Arabia, and with Putin’s oil industry protected by the US, Putin will gain that market share, financing expanded war on the west. Everything depends on Ukraine.”