Fox News politico Brian Kilmeade suggested President Donald Trump might be siding with the “bad guys” after his deal to import Russian diesel escalated tensions between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the United States.
Kilmeade, one of the network’s most stalwart conservatives, argued with “Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy while denouncing Trump for proposing Kiev needed new leadership after Zelenskyy criticized the U.S. fuel deal with Moscow.
“The president got ticked off because Zelenskyy came out and said, ‘Do not buy five hundred million tons of diesel,’” Kilmeade said, calling it understandable for the Ukrainian leader to be frustrated over millions of dollars now “going to flow into Russia, who started this whole war unprovoked.”
“They are the bad guys. And there’s no way Zelenskyy turned down any plausible deal,” he said, adding there was also no way Russian President Vladimir Putin would entertain a “practical peace effort” that could end his war with Ukraine.
“There’s one person who’s responsible: Vladimir Putin,” Kilmeade said of the conflict, which has been going on at full force since 2022. “That is it. And he’s getting his ass kicked.”
Placing further blame on Trump, the Republican pundit said the Russian diesel deal wouldn’t even be a consideration if the United States and Israel’s joint war on Iran hadn’t ground the gulf state oil market to a halt.
Kilmeade went on to describe cooperation with Putin in grave terms, saying, “It would be the biggest mistake of [Trump’s] administration to work with Russia. That is the modern Hitler of our generation.”
Less than a month after approving measures to sanction Russia and nations that purchased energy from it, Trump seemed ready to disregard the bipartisan legislation in hopes of tamping down fuel prices ahead of November’s midterm elections.
According to a Friday Truth Social post by the president, Russia will immediately provide the U.S. with 300,000 tons of diesel, then an additional 500,000 tons in November and 1 million tons “immediately thereafter.”
“Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority,” Trump wrote.