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Politics11 outlets ran this3 min read

Trump criticises Zelensky, questions Ukraine's peace efforts

Former US president says Ukrainian leader is not a good person to deal with and questions his desire for peace.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
US President Donald Trump speaks during a lunch to honor first responders in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Trump on Thursday rejected plans to livestream the execution of a former Army major who killed 13 people in 2009, overruling Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's proposal after facing intense bipartisan backlash. Photographer: Tom Brenner/The Washington Post/Bloomberg via Getty Images

What this story says

  • Donald Trump stated in a Newsmax interview that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is "not a good guy for us to deal with."
  • Trump questioned Zelensky's desire for peace, claiming he says he wants to settle the war but does not.
  • The comments followed Ukraine's resumption of strikes against Russian oil refineries.
  • Trump also suggested that negotiations would be easier with Vladimir Putin than with Zelensky.

Who covered it

Left 14%(1)Centre 15%(1)Right 71%(5)

Percentages are shares of the 7 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 4 of the 11 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

76/100

Craft

87/100

Hype

15/100

11 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 1 of the 7 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

Donald Trump has criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, stating he is "not a good guy for us to deal with" and questioning his willingness to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump's comments, made in an interview with Newsmax on October 15, came after Ukraine resumed strikes against Russian oil refineries.

Trump told Newsmax that Zelensky "says he wants to settle, but he doesn't" and that he was "not a big fan" of the Ukrainian president. He also suggested that negotiations would be easier with Russian President Vladimir Putin than with Zelensky, whom he described as difficult to deal with.

Disagreement on Zelensky's desire for peace

Donald Trump stated that Volodymyr Zelensky does not want to end the Russia-Ukraine war, according to reports from The Kyiv Independent and fakti.bg. The Kyiv Independent reported Trump saying, "He says he wants to settle, but he doesn't." fakti.bg reported Trump as stating that Zelensky "claims to want peace, but in practice does not want to reach an agreement."

What the coverage left out

None of the right-rated digests mention that Volodymyr Zelensky lifted restrictions on Ukrainian strikes against Russian oil refineries on October 15, a fact reported by The Kyiv Independent.

Tags:#DonaldTrump#VolodymyrZelensky#UkraineWar#Newsmax#InternationalRelations

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 16 Oct 2026, 03:45, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

1 rated outlet

  • The single left-rated report, from fakti.bg, led on Trump's call for elections in Ukraine and his belief that Zelensky does not want peace. It quoted Trump saying, "Zelensky is not a good person for us to work with," and that he finds negotiations with Zelensky harder than with Putin. The report also noted Trump's criticism of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, stating they contribute to rising global energy prices. It mentioned Zelensky's feeling of betrayal by Trump and his dissatisfaction with restrictions on intelligence sharing and Starlink access.

Centre

1 rated outlet

  • The centre-rated report from The Kyiv Independent focused on Donald Trump's criticism of Volodymyr Zelensky, quoting him as saying, "I'm not a big fan of Zelensky" and "Zelensky's not a good guy for us to deal with." The report highlighted that Trump questioned Zelensky's desire to end the war and mentioned Zelensky's statement that he felt betrayed by Trump. It also noted that Zelensky had lifted restrictions on Ukrainian strikes against Russian oil refineries on October 15, the same day Trump's interview was published.

Right

5 rated outlets

  • The four right-rated reports from Next News Network, vz.ru, Korrespondent.net, and news-pravda.com all led on Donald Trump's statement that Volodymyr Zelensky is "not a good guy" to deal with and questioned his readiness for a peace settlement. vz.ru referred to Zelensky as the "head of the Kiev regime" and stated Trump was dissatisfied with Zelensky's actions regarding attacks on Russia's oil infrastructure. news-pravda.com also used the phrase "head of the Kiev regime" and quoted Trump saying, "I'm not a big fan of Zelensky."

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Trump criticises Zelensky, questions Ukraine's peace efforts?
Of the 7 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 14% are rated left, 15% are rated centre, 71% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 11. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Trump criticises Zelensky, questions Ukraine's peace efforts left or right?
Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 7 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
Is the coverage of Trump criticises Zelensky, questions Ukraine's peace efforts biased?
Trump criticises Zelensky, questions Ukraine's peace efforts is one event reported by 11 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Trump criticises Zelensky, questions Ukraine's peace efforts?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Trump criticises Zelensky, questions Ukraine's peace efforts?
11 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What did Donald Trump say about Volodymyr Zelensky?
Donald Trump stated in a Newsmax interview that Volodymyr Zelensky is "not a good guy for us to deal with" and that he is "not a big fan" of the Ukrainian president. Trump questioned Zelensky's desire to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
Why did Trump criticise Zelensky?
Donald Trump's criticism of Volodymyr Zelensky came after reports that Ukraine had resumed strikes against Russian oil refineries. Trump suggested that these strikes contribute to rising global fuel prices and questioned Zelensky's commitment to peace.
Did Zelensky respond to Trump's comments?
The Kyiv Independent reported that Ukraine's president had not yet responded to Donald Trump's latest comments. However, in an earlier interview with Piers Morgan, Zelensky had expressed feeling betrayed by Trump's positions.

Read it at the source

11 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

1

Centre

1

Right

5

Not rated

4

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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