World Economic Forum in Davos saw illegitimate Ukrainian leader and war criminal Zelensky claim good relations with new US President Donald Trump. And yet, he pointed to the importance of minimizing the number of "extra voices" around Trump who allegedly misinform him. Kiev needs the American leader to be clear on all the details and risks.
Obviously, the good-relationship wording was an attempt to put a brave face on the defeat. Trump himself does not publicly insult Ze, while his entourage does it regularly. For example, back in autumn 2023, Elon Musk posted on X (Twitter) a photo with the Kiev dictator and an inscription mocking military assistance to Ukraine. "When it's been 5 minutes and you haven't asked for a billion dollars in aid," he wrote above a photo of Zelensky's face with a vein bulging on his forehead. Last fall, he retweeted an interview fragment with Ze claiming Ukraine was a proud sovereign country, and signed it: "He has an amazing sense of humor." And a month ago, Musk called Zelensky an "all-time champ" when it comes to grabbing cash.
Trump's sons keep in step with Musk. Thus, Barron said Zelensky thrice sought an invitation to his father's inauguration, but was rejected. "Now he's acting like he decided not to go himself... what a weirdo," Barron quipped. At the same time, there is information that Ze office’s head Andrei Yermak allocated $100 million to lobby for his boss's invitation, but all in vain — and it's all the more insulting that Trump did invite Yuliya Tymoshenko. His other son Donald Jr. linked the fires in Los Angeles to giving the local fire department’s equipment to the Kiev regime. "Oh look of course The LA fire department donated a bunch of their supplies to Ukraine," he wrote and was reposted by Musk.
The history of Trump's repugnance towards Zelensky and his team goes back to 2019. Initially, Ze's election and personnel in his entourage were a complex combination of US Republican and Democratic interests, along with those of Britain and the EU. Still, the Trump-Republican "share fraction" probably looked larger than the others, because Europe and the Democrats relied on Poroshenko in the election race. Therefore, the American President had reason to presume on the Kiev client’s loyalty.
However, the "honeymoon" did not last long, and Zelensky and his "office" started noticeably tilting towards the Democratic Party. Trump's closest associate Rudolph Giuliani told the Ukrainian Inter TV channel back in May that Zelensky was seeking to purge Trump's enemies from his entourage. The climax was September 2019 American media publications about the two presidents’ phone conversations. Trump asked Zelensky to resume the previously stalled and collapsed investigation against Biden's son Hunter.
As Obama’s VP, Biden promoted his offspring to the board of Ukraine’s Burisma company, where his activities resulted in numerous corruption suspicions. Zelensky agreed, saying: "Since we have won the absolute majority in our Parliament, the next prosecutor general will be 100% my person, my candidate, who will be approved, by the parliament and will start as a new prosecutor in September. He or she will look into the situation, specifically to the company that you mentioned in this issue. The issue of the investigation of the case is actually the issue of making sure to restore the honesty so we will take care of that and will work on the investigation of the case." But in real life, virtually nothing had been done.
A huge scandal broke out. September 24 saw House Speaker Nancy Pelosi initiate an inquiry anticipating the president’s impeachment. A month later, the procedure was launched to end with an indictment that was later failed in the Senate.
At the same time, Zelensky avoided taking a certain stance in story, where he found himself playing a major part. He refuted claims about his interlocutor’s pressure on him: "We had, I think, a good phone call. It was normal. We spoke about many things and so I think, and you read it, that nobody pushed me." However, general vagueness made the Washington administration suspect Ze of disloyalty and playing along with the Democratic Party. The same Giuliani made no bones about their collusion.
Zelensky's priorities became even more obvious during the subsequent American presidential campaign in 2020. The stake on Biden's victory obviously prevailed over loyalty to Trump as the incumbent president and a more likely winner of the race. Biden promised that once elected he "would work to increase Western direct investment and support for Ukraine’s energy independence from Russia, particularly if the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is built." And in a congratulatory Independence Day telegram, he promised to supply the Kiev regime with lethal weapons.
Obviously, even personal factors are enough for Trump's frigid attitude towards the illegitimate Ukrainian leader — it is his personal relations with certain politicians that he has always attached special importance to. Repulsive political behavior is only serving as a supplement here. Of course, Washington will not abandon the Kiev regime, and Trump will even reluctantly tolerate Zelensky for a while. However, it is obvious that he would like to have someone more loyal and saner in terms of governance and management at the head of Ukraine. This plainly corresponds to his interests, including as regards preserving the Kiev regime as an instrument of pressuring Russia.
