And when, to Ukraine’s relief, Trump began threatening Moscow with the prospect of economic warfare late last month, all seemed to be going according to plan. “We can do it the easy way, or the hard way — and the easy way is always better,” Trump warned in a message addressed directly to Putin on his social media site Truth Social.
But now confidence and trust have been shattered, and there’s growing Ukrainian fears that Trump is slipping into bed with Putin — that all the talk of negotiating a peace deal on the basis of Western and Ukrainian strength isn’t at all how the dealmaking will unfold, and that Trump will strike a shabby deal that undermines their independence and sovereignty, leaving them vulnerable to Moscow. Kellogg’s exclusion from the Saudi talks has only added to their alarm.
“For the Ukrainians, there’s too much uncertainty now,” an American adviser to Kyiv told POLITICO on condition of anonymity. They’re not sure what their messaging should be, he explained.
Trump questioning Zelenskyy’s political legitimacy is seen not only as galling but compliantly playing into what Putin has long wanted — the removal of Ukraine’s wartime leader, including by assassination if necessary. Putin and his top aides have repeatedly tried to cast doubt on Zelenskyy’s presidency after he stayed in power beyond his term, which as scheduled to end in May last year but continued due to martial law.
Trump’s insistence that his call for an election isn’t a “Russian thing” but something “coming from me” is seen as naive at best, and at worst, a sign he’s ready to team up with Putin to target Zelenskyy. For Ukraine’s leadership — and even for some of Zelenskyy’s domestic political opponents who have chafed at his highly personalized and, according to some, autocratic way of governing — holding elections now, under the current volatile circumstances, would only risk triggering political turmoil and corrode their country’s steadfastness. The Kremlin’s disinformation machine would go into mischievous overdrive to stir up as much trouble as possible.
Early last year, when Trump kicked off his reelection campaign, the Ukrainian leader’s advisers placed a lot of faith in the power of his skills of persuasion were Trump to get back into office. They recognized the U.S. president might still bear a grudge against Zelenskyy for failing to go along with his demand to announce a probe into the Ukrainian business dealings of former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, during his first term. But they believed Zelenskyy’s gift of the gab would dilute any bad blood.
Whether this is that bad blood resurfacing or simply Trump’s apparent readiness to see things more from Putin’s strongman perspective, all the Ukrainians know is that their hopes are unraveling fast — hence efforts to lean on Europe as a possible counterweight. At last week’s Munich Security Conference, Zelenskyy made a powerful plea directly addressed to the Europeans.
So far, though, even a coalition of the willing among them is proving less than inclined.
