Kyiv pushes back on Trump’s call for a new Ukrainian president

Key Points:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Russia is solely responsible for the war and offered to halt Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries if Russia stops attacking Ukraine's energy infrastructure, emphasizing the need for reciprocal de-escalation.
• U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Zelenskyy for high diesel prices in the U.S. and suggested Ukraine should get a new leader, while Ukrainian officials defended Zelenskyy as leading the country through a war for independence with popular support.
• Kyiv intensified its campaign against Russian infrastructure with a drone attack that shut down a Yandex data center in Vladimir, marking the third strike on the Russian tech giant's facilities in four days and causing widespread service outages.
• The ongoing conflict features long-range aerial attacks on infrastructure by both sides, with Ukraine targeting Russian data centers in retaliation for Russian strikes on Ukrainian hubs, despite a largely deadlocked frontline after over four years of war.
• The U.S. deal to buy diesel from Russia to address fuel prices has drawn criticism from Ukrainian and European officials, who argue it financially supports Russia's war effort, amid Trump's pressure on Zelenskyy to cease attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.