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Donald Trump hates the Ukrainian president and would do anything to punish him.
Trump has hated Zelensky since he refused in 2019 to investigate the activities of Joe Biden's son at the request of the White House. That's why many people thought the US president now wanted to sacrifice him. And among the names to replace him is the former head of the Armed Forces
Sacrifice Zelensky to save Ukraine?
The question was asked by many people in Kiev privately and confidentially in late September, when the Republican victory in the US elections was beginning to take shape.
According to the Italian daily La Repubblica, it was not a geopolitical assessment, but a strictly psychological one: Donald Trump hates the Ukrainian president and would do anything to punish him.
A deep hatred that dates back to 2019, when Zelensky refused the White House's request to investigate the activities of Joe Biden's son and allowed the US Congress to open impeachment proceedings for these pressures.
For Trump, it was an unforgivable betrayal.
Today the personal question has become political. And it is the order of the day, dramatically: there is an awareness that without maintaining a relationship with America, Ukraine will not be able to survive.
Because the Europeans are unable to encourage the continuation of the conflict nor provide security guarantees to prevent an "unfair peace" that causes the destruction of the country, as a result of Russian influence maneuvers even before a new military aggression.
A cold consideration of realpolitik, difficult to accept for the pride of a people who have been fighting for independence for three years and now find themselves abandoned.
The second problem is finding an alternative to Zelensky, the man who embodied the unity of the nation in the face of Putin's invasion.
Polls re-released by The Economist claim that the president's popularity has fallen from 90 to 52 percent and show only one: General Valery Zaluzhny, removed by the president's will from leading the armed forces a year ago and sent to London as ambassador.
In a direct challenge, the former soldier would beat the former actor by 65 percent to 30.
Trust in the leader is unquestionable, as are the merits earned on the field.
Since 2021, he has reformed a Soviet-style army incapable of defending Crimea and Donbass until it became the flexible instrument that repelled the Russian tide and then liberated Kherson and the Kharkiv region.
Of course, the offensive in the summer of 2023 was a failure, but Zaluzhny did not blow the propaganda trumpet: he quickly realized that the tactics taught by NATO instructors could not work.
The clash with Zelensky began in Bakhmut, when the leader imposed resistance to Wagner's attack: a useless battle, at a great cost in lives.
And it continued when the commander made his plan public: to call up a million men; to remain on the defensive for 2024 in order to train them adequately; to launch a final assault in 2025.
The president did not want to decree an unpopular measure like forced mobilization and was intolerant of the general's fame, so he got rid of him.
For months Zaluzhny remained silent.
Asked about his candidacy, he replied: "For now, our only goal is to strengthen and defend our country. Once we have done that, we will think about the rest."
Could he be the man who can make Ukraine accept the loss of Donbass and Mariupol?
Rumors have circulated in recent days that he has a gloomy assessment of the situation and a distrust of his allies: "I am absolutely convinced that the armed forces have been, are and will remain the most reliable guarantor of Ukraine's security."
Zaluzhny always speaks only as a soldier, writes La Repubblica.
Never a statement on other topics. He is a tough and clean general who can hold the country together when it is time to surrender to the reality dictated by Russian power and American disengagement.
But would he be able to revive relations with Trump? And does he have the experience to manage the rebuilding of a crippled nation?
These doubts leave the door open to other candidates, including the mayor of Kiev: Vitali Klitschko, a former world boxing champion, ready to take up arms to fight the Russians and a shrewd navigator of Ukrainian palace intrigues, where few are innocent.
An empathetic guy, married to a model and who has already had past relationships with Rudolph Giuliani and other early Trump supporters. /Taken from La Repubblica
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