'A lot of Ukrainians are feeling extremely betrayed' by Trump's Russian diesel deal

Let's bring in our Ukraine correspondent, Gulliver Craig, who joins us now live. Gulliver, good evening to you. It's almost surreal, isn't it, having Donald Trump making his declaration via social media that this energy ceasefire had been agreed on. And then, of course, on the ground, evidence very much to the contrary. And Lavrov there speaking out. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, saying that basically Ukraine doesn't deserve respite. Give us your take on the situation as it stands now. I mean, it's all the more surreal considering that this already happened. On the 14th of September, Trump unilaterally declared a ceasefire on energy targets between Ukraine and Russia on Truth Social, and it soon became clear that there had been no agreement reached at all, and they carried on striking those targets as they had been before. It's more or less the same situation now. Volodymyr Zelensky saying after Donald Trump made his post that it was the first he'd heard of it, and the Russians continuing, I think at least six energy targets in Ukraine have been struck by Russia since Donald Trump announced that ceasefire. Ukraine has actually, according to Volodymyr Zelensky and according to the lack of any reports of fires breaking out at oil refineries in Russia, at least overnight ceased striking those kinds of targets in Russia, perhaps to see if there is actually any chance that this ceasefire could materialise. But we also had a US official briefing the US-based media Axios that the way they saw it. This was just a ceasefire on oil refineries, of which Russia has a lot, and they're an important part of the Russian economy, and of which Ukraine has only one, and it's already severely damaged by Russian strikes. The Ukrainians never, ever talked about the idea of having a ceasefire only on oil refineries. Their position from the beginning has been on energy targets in general, which means power stations, everything to do with the power grid, and also oil refineries. They've made it clear that they're prepared to enact such a ceasefire if the Russians do as well, but the Russians don't seem to be willing to do it. And this coming so quickly after Donald Trump with his diesel deal with the Russians, basically seems to be more evidence as if anyone needed that Donald Trump really is stacking up what he thinks and believes behind Vladimir Putin. Absolutely. I mean, a lot of Ukrainians are feeling extremely betrayed by a country that until recently they saw not only as an ally, but as a beacon of freedom, you know, and democracy and a country whose values they should aspire to. All of that is really falling apart very quickly and Ukrainians' admiration for the United States is disintegrating. I spoke to one person earlier this evening, though, who said, well, the thing is we don't need the United States so much anymore. So, yes, they might be betraying us, but we've learned to make our own drones, we've learned to fight the war with our own resources and we've built up alliances with our other partners in Europe and so we'll be okay without them. but others, just a discussion on the radio in the primetime radio drive time show that I was listening to. So I'm on my way from Kiev to Zaporizhzhia. So I was listening to the radio in the car and they were really openly speculating about the possibility that one day in the future, it might not just be Vladimir Putin in the dock in The Hague for war crimes against Ukraine, but Donald Trump as well. I mean, obviously this is speculation. It's not something that they're really expecting to happen. But if you think of how much things have changed from when Ukraine was saying things like the US is our absolute, you know, staunchest ally. We absolutely need the United States. I mean, Volodymyr Zelensky, having got very angry with Donald Trump when he made this deal with Putin after being briefed by his negotiations team who returned from Miami, he did say this evening that in order to put this ceasefire in place, a lot depends on the position of the United States. I think they never give up hope that the United States position in terms of putting pressure on Russia for a ceasefire might change. I mean, their hopes are based not on Donald Trump's character or the relationship that Donald Trump has with Vladimir Putin, but I suppose on the idea that Donald Trump might come to the conclusion that he needs to achieve a ceasefire in order to boost his own ratings, and that's going to help better than making some diesel deal that isn't actually going to change prices at the pump. But I also think a lot of people in Ukraine think that that is too optimistic and that it's not going to happen. Perhaps we'll see after the midterms. Of course, there are a lot of Republican and Democratic candidates who've been critical. of the um diesel deal um but uh certainly the way things are going for Donald Trump seems like confirming the theories of all those who since the beginning were saying he was a Russian asset I love a crack as always thank you very much indeed and uh careful on your journey there onward to Zaporizhzhia.