US President Donald Trump on Saturday called for Ukraine to replace its leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, and sharply criticized Kyiv's strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, one day after announcing a diesel supply deal with Moscow that drew an immediate rebuke from the Ukrainian leader.

Zelensky delivered some of his harshest criticism yet of the White House, linking the US lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel with a Russian attack on Saturday that killed 20 people, including 3 children, in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.

The dispute has unfolded against the backdrop of a steep rise in global diesel prices since the outbreak of the Iran war in February. The price surge has become a political liability for Trump's Republican Party ahead of next month's midterm elections, in which opposition Democrats could gain control of one or both houses of Congress. Diesel powers farm machinery, freight trucking and much of the world's shipping, making its price a direct input into the cost of food and transported goods.

"I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president," Trump told reporters at the White House, asserting that Zelensky had hurt global diesel supplies through strikes on Russian refineries.

"He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world," Trump said.

Zelensky Says Deal Emboldens Moscow

Earlier in the day, Zelensky said Trump's announcement on Friday of the diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin had emboldened Moscow. Kyiv has instead urged Washington to pressure the Kremlin into serious negotiations to end the 4-1/2-year-old war.

The Russian government said on Saturday that it had partially lifted a ban on diesel exports, meaning some curbs remain in place.

"Today, Russia said thank you for the lifting of sanctions on diesel exports by dropping five glide bombs on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia," Zelensky said.

"Last night provided yet more confirmation that Russia perceives any easing of pressure as a signal that it can supposedly keep fighting, that it can supposedly keep dropping bombs on cities. Different signals are needed," he added.

A Week of Deadly Strikes

The southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia has been a regular target of Russian bombardment, with strikes intensifying in recent months. On Saturday, a 6-year-old girl was among those killed when one attack reduced part of an apartment block to rubble. Her grandfather, Anatoliy Chumniy, stood sobbing over her body, laid on the ground in a white bag, after rescuers pulled it from the wreckage.

"Her birthday would have been at the end of the month," he said through tears.

It was the third mass-casualty attack on Ukraine this week. Nearly 80 civilians were killed in Russian strikes on Wednesday and Thursday, including at least 30 people killed by a bomb in the eastern garrison city of Kramatorsk and 22 others by a missile in the town of Pryluky, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) east of Kyiv.

The diesel deal also drew criticism from US lawmakers. Representative Donald Bacon, a fellow Republican of Trump's, said it was time to apply the additional sanctions Congress had recently passed, not lift them.

Analysts said the agreement was unlikely to produce sustained lower fuel prices, noting that the volumes involved remain far below what Russia usually exports when its refineries are not under attack.

Britain Vows Stronger Sanctions

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham spoke with Zelensky on Saturday and said Britain would strengthen its sanctions on Russia, according to a Downing Street spokesperson, who added that the two leaders would meet in person in the coming days. The pledge puts London on a different track from Washington, which had announced the lifting of sanctions on Russian diesel a day earlier.

The latest strikes followed talks in Miami on Friday between Ukrainian and European officials and US negotiators, which were aimed at developing a common proposal for ending the war, to a person familiar with the discussions.

Trump announced the diesel deal while those negotiations were under way, a move Zelensky said had caught Kyiv by surprise. The Ukrainian delegation was headed home on Saturday, presidential aide Dmytro Lytvyn was cited as saying by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

Putin, speaking after a call with Trump on Friday, said an immediate resumption of peace talks was unlikely, citing Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow.

Russian state news agency TASS reported on Saturday, citing a source, that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner may visit Moscow within the next two weeks.

"Don't Hit Refineries"

In his remarks at the White House, Trump faulted Zelensky for the lack of a peace deal and demanded an end to Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities.

"I said to him, 'Do what you want. Don't hit refineries. There's plenty of targets. Don't hit refineries.' And he went out and he hit," Trump said. "He better damn well stop."

"I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals, but for some reason he never does," he added.

— Reuters