Ukraine’s third president, Viktor Yushchenko, published an open letter to U.S. President Donald Trump on Facebook. In it, he urged Trump not to forget the United States’ obligations to Ukraine under the Budapest Memorandum and criticized the trade in Russian diesel fuel.
Yushchenko said he had decided to address Trump without diplomatic etiquette or lofty words — “from one person to another, from one president to another” — as someone who cares about freedom and human dignity.
According to him, freedom for Ukrainians is not merely a word from political declarations, but a deep genetic code passed down from previous generations.
“We are a people of farmers whose identity grows out of love for our own home, our own field, and our native sky. We have never coveted what belongs to others, but we have not been taught to give up what is ours either.”
Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s third president
Russian strikes and diesel trade
Yushchenko noted that Ukrainian cities are shaken every day by Russian ballistic missiles and aerial bombs. According to him, Russia is striking civilians, “trying to burn away our freedom.” Among the cities and regions he mentioned were Kyiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, and the Kharkiv region.
The third president also linked discussions of possible “concessions” or agreements with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to new Russian strikes. This is Yushchenko’s assessment as stated in the letter.
“This is not merely dry statistics or a ‘conflict somewhere far away’ — it is the unbearable, living pain of millions of families who pass through the true hellfire of this war every day. And against this backdrop, it looks wild and painful when there are calls for Ukraine to ‘stop,’ lectures on whom we should elect and how we should live, or when the green light is given for trade in Russian diesel fuel.”
Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s third president
He emphasized that every dollar from diesel trade is, in his words, “a purchased missile,” and that trade with the aggressor fuels its war machine.
The letter came amid Trump’s calls to stop strikes on Russian oil refineries and his agreement with Russia on diesel fuel supplies. On October 9, 2026, Trump said he had reached an agreement with Putin on supplying Russian diesel fuel to the U.S. and global markets.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy subsequently said that any easing of sanctions against Russia without a clear and lasting de-escalation agreement with the Kremlin was “an obvious weakness that plays into Russia’s hands.”
Reference to the Budapest Memorandum
Yushchenko recalled 1994, when Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons. In return, the United States, together with its partners, signed the Budapest Memorandum, providing Ukraine with official guarantees of security, sovereignty, and the inviolability of its borders.
The third president asked whether the United States’ signature on that document could be forgotten today. He also recalled U.S. history in the early 20th century, when the country sold oil to Japan, believing it would help preserve “stability.”
“For years, the United States sold them fuel, trying to buy its way out of war. How did it end? With the tragedy of Pearl Harbor, when Japanese planes, fueled by American fuel, bombed your fleet.”
Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s third president
Yushchenko also mentioned the photograph over Iwo Jima, where the U.S. flag was raised by a Ukrainian boy from Lemkivshchyna — Sergeant Michael Strank, who died for America. In addition, he recalled that on April 25, 1945, on a destroyed bridge in Torgau on the Elbe, American Lieutenant William Robertson was first embraced by Oleksandr Silvashko, a native of the Cherkasy region.
According to Yushchenko, the Ukrainian and American peoples have already shed blood together for freedom in the struggle against tyranny.
“Ukrainian identity is defiance. We are a people with deep roots, bound to our land by love, labor, and the spirit of freedom. We will never, do you hear, never give our Land to anyone. This is our home, given to us by God beneath this high sun. We were here, we are here, and we always will be.”
Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s third president
At the end of the letter, he stated that Ukrainians cannot be intimidated by missiles or forced to surrender because “the blood of free people flows in our veins,” and that, in his words, tyrants are not negotiated with — they are stopped.
