Ukraine’s opposition leaders have confirmed they have held discussions with members of Donald Trump’s entourage, but denied on Thursday they were part of a reported White House plot to remove Volodymyr Zelenskyy from power.
The former president Petro Poroshenko said he had held talks with US representatives but added that he opposed Trump’s demands for wartime elections. Poroshenko, who lost to Zelenskyy in the 2019 presidential vote, said a poll should only be held once martial law ends.
Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine’s former prime minister, said she also opposes elections while fighting continues. She said her team was “talking with all our allies who can help in securing a just peace as soon as possible”.
The online newspaper Politico reported that the secret discussions took place as part of an attempt by the White House to remove Zelenskyy from his post. Four senior members of Trump’s team were involved, it said, adding they believed Ukraine’s president would lose a vote.
Under Ukraine’s constitution elections are suspended while martial law is in force. Last month, however, Donald Trump echoed Kremlin disinformation by calling Zelenskyy a “dictator without elections” who had done “a terrible job” and had a “4% poll rating”.
Other administration officials including Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence, have wrongly claimed Kyiv has cancelled elections. Last week, meanwhile, Trump and the US vice-president, JD Vance, berated Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, accusing him of ingratitude and of not wanting peace.
On Thursday, Trump’s ally Elon Musk tweeted: “Ukraine needs to hold an election. Zelensky would lose by a landslide.”
But Zelenskyy remains the most popular politician in Ukraine. Trump’s recent attacks on him have boosted his ratings, which are at 44 % according to the British pollster Survation this week. Poroshenko, an oligarch who was elected in 2014, receives 10% support, with Tymoshenko on 5.4%.
The second most popular potential candidate is Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, who trails Zelenskyy by more than 20 points. A former head of Ukraine’s armed forces, he accused Trump on Thursday of sabotaging western unity.
Speaking at Chatham House, he said: “We see that it’s not just the axis of evil and Russia trying to revise the world order. The US is finally destroying this order.” Zaluzhnyi warned that Nato would soon “stop existing”, as the US tore up its postwar commitment to European security.
Commentators were unimpressed with the White House’s apparent behind-the-scenes attempts to pick favourites in Ukraine’s domestic politics. Tymoshenko was spotted in Washington during Trump’s inauguration in January, attending a prayer event with leading Republicans.
“This is a dead horse effort and shows how little the team who met either Ukrainian understands the reality in Ukraine,” Tymofiy Mylovanov, the president of the Kyiv school of economics, said on social media.
He continued: “If the US wants a different president in Ukraine, they should be meeting with General Zaluzhnyi. But I have a feeling Zaluzhnyi would be even tougher for them to negotiate with than Zelenskyy.”
Zelenskyy’s popularity has declined overall amid three years of all-out war. Most Ukrainians, though, do not want elections at a time when millions have fled abroad, and while Ukrainian soldiers are fighting and dying on the frontline. Russia would disrupt any vote and bomb polling stations, they say.
In a statement Poroshenko said his team had held “fair and democratic elections” in 2019, which Zelenskyy and his Servant of the People party won overwhelmingly. Poroshenko, the recent target of government sanctions, complained he was the victim of “politically motivated persecution”.
But he also stressed his strong support for Zelenskyy’s negotiating position. He said he had told Ukraine’s allies that they should increase arms supplies, strengthen sanctions on Russia, and insist on “clear red lines” in talks with the Kremlin.
He added: “Our key task today is to protect Ukraine’s interests and ensure its European development. This is the responsibility of every Ukrainian politician, regardless of whether they are in power or in the opposition.”
