FT: “Simply put, Zelenskyy has not become a true leader”

Zelenskyy
Photo: AP

Ukraine on Tuesday agreed to a US proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire — as long as Russia reciprocates. In return, Washington agreed to resume deliveries of military aid and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, having suspended them last week to pressure Kyiv into reaching a peace deal with Moscow. If Russia agrees to a truce, it could pave the way for more substantive settlement talks.

But there is no sign that Russia is willing to compromise on its maximalist goals of subjugating Ukraine, notes ‘The Financial Times’.

So can Ukraine really hold out without American support? Ukrainian and western strategists concede it would be far harder to prosecute the war if President Donald Trump ends once and for all American military aid. In particular, the loss of American intelligence and surveillance, Patriot air-defence batteries and the Starlink satellite system, which is used to synchronise battlefield communications, would be huge setbacks.

If Ukraine is to cling on it faces huge challenges, in particular of mobilisation and military materiel. And all the while, after three years in the shadows, domestic politics are starting to reassert themselves and pose mounting pressure on Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Trump administration is also likely to turn on Zelenskyy. The US president has already questioned the Ukrainian leader’s legitimacy, describing him as a “dictator”, a narrative pushed by the Kremlin, and urging new elections. Some Trump allies called for Zelenskyy to resign after his Oval Office bust-up with the president. Ukrainian officials see this as a destabilisation campaign inspired by Moscow that will sow division across Ukrainian society at a particularly difficult moment.

There is incipient speculation in Kyiv’s political circles over how long Zelenskyy will stay in office. “We are in the final act [of Zelenskyy’s presidency],” says a senior Ukrainian official. “And the hot phase of the war.”

Political opponents who threw their support behind Zelenskyy publicly after the Oval Office fiasco are in reality preparing for elections, forming alliances and testing public messaging. Some opposition politicians have started outreach to the Trump administration and the US president’s Maga allies in Washington, including attending a prayer breakfast in the US.

But, behind the scenes, politics is intensifying and becoming more virulent. When Zelenskyy last month put sanctions on his predecessor and opposition leader, Petro Poroshenko, it was widely seen as politically motivated by some opposition parties.

Volodymyr Ariel, a close ally of Poroshenko, says that far from becoming a new Winston Churchill, Zelenskyy had failed to unite the nation. “Simply put, Zelenskyy has not become a true leader,” he says. “He is unable to adapt to the challenges Ukraine faces today. He remains selfish, narcissistic and arrogant in his dealing both within Ukraine and with international partners.”

The Trump administration has made no secret of its desire to work with a new Ukrainian leader.

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