Zelenskyy ‘not afraid’ of new Trump presidency as war drags on
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he’s “not afraid” of a potential second Donald Trump presidency even as he said the turbulence around the U.S. election is hurting Kyiv’s effort on the battlefield.
Days after Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, world leaders are grappling with his presidential bid gaining fresh momentum. Zelenskyy, who this month demanded to see Trump’s plan for ending the war, said he already has a basic understanding of its general points — and that peace talks would press ahead with a prospective Trump White House.
“If Mr. Donald Trump becomes president, we will work,” he said. “I am not afraid of that.”
Zelenskyy was careful not to weigh in on the outcome of the November contest, stressing that the matter was up to American voters. Ukraine will rely on bipartisan support in Washington — including “powerful” relations with Republicans — to maintain strong U.S. ties, he said.
The Ukrainian leader earlier this month demanded that Trump come forward with his plan after the former U.S. president boasted that he could end the conflict before his inauguration in January.
“If Trump knows how to finish this war, he should tell us today,” Zelenskyy told Bloomberg Television in Kyiv on July 3.
With Ukraine acutely dependent on military supplies from U.S., its largest donor, Zelenskyy said the tumultuous presidential campaign has taken a toll on Ukraine’s battlefield initiative. Gaining the upper hand against the Russian invaders will be difficult because Kyiv is only securing enough weapons to hold its ground, not to defeat the Kremlin, he said.
Cabinet Reshuffle
As relentless attacks batter Ukraine’s energy system and the full-scale war in its third year, Zelenskyy said he’s considering a cabinet overhaul — though he declined to elaborate amid widespread speculation that he may swap out Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
“We are talking about cabinet replacements,” Zelenskyy said.
The president said Ukrainian troops had made progress in halting the Kremlin’s new front north of Kharkiv, the country’s No. 2 city, but the military situation in the east was more critical. Kyiv’s forces this month withdrew from a section of an embattled town in the eastern Donetsk region, Chasiv Yar, a retreat from part of a strategic position that signaled a setback in the struggle to hold off Russia’s advance.
The Ukrainian leader signaled his openness to having a Russian representative take part in a subsequent summit after more than 100 delegations gathered in Switzerland last month, though excluded Moscow. That meeting fell short of its goal of rallying nations from the Global South, including China, India, Brazil and South Africa.
Kyiv is working toward a new summit in November, Zelenskyy said, adding that a preliminary blueprint will be established at three meetings preceding it. Energy will be discussed as late as August in Qatar; food security and navigation at a meeting in Turkey; and the return of of children and prisoner swaps will be addressed at a meeting in Canada, he said.