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Washington Post
5 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
How Ukraine's allies helped Zelensky recover his standing with Trump
When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky got off the phone with President Donald Trump on Independence Day, his top aide could scarcely contain his relief. ''Wow, that was the best call with him we ever had,'' his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said after Zelensky hung up the call — and Zelensky agreed, according to a Ukrainian official who, like other officials interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive internal discussions. The call felt so positive from Ukraine's perspective that it caught Zelensky's staff by surprise, the official said. 'The spirit was uplifted, but it is too early to celebrate,' the official said. 'We have to wait for actions.' The Ukrainians know better than most how much fortunes can shift with Trump's mercurial moods. In February, Zelensky and Trump engaged in an Oval Office shouting match that ended with the Ukrainian president's ejection from the White House. The July 4 call marked a remarkable turnabout, leading to Trump's decision this week to offer about $10 billion worth of weaponry for Europe to purchase on Ukraine's behalf. That shift culminated months of work by European leaders, Republicans on Capitol Hill and others sympathetic to the Ukrainian cause who gave Zelensky strategic advice about how to get Trump back on his side, including how to use the language of transaction and flattery that Trump appears to respond to. 'A lot of Ukraine's allies have been in contact with Zelensky about this, but also among each other,' a European official said. 'They're talking about how you talk to Trump.' Zelensky also benefited from Trump's growing frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That frustration boiled over the day before Trump and Zelensky spoke. A July 3 phone call between the U.S. and Russian leaders was followed by the most intense Russian drone assaults on Ukraine of the war. Trump, in response, has publicly accused Putin of offering him 'bulls---' during their conversations. 'I speak to [Putin] a lot,' Trump said earlier this week as he announced the new weapons sales for Ukraine. 'I always hang up and say, 'Well, that was a nice phone call.' And then missiles launched into Kyiv or some other city. After that happens three or four times, you say the talk doesn't mean anything.' The turnaround in the Trump-Zelensky relationship keeps open the flow of U.S. arms for Ukraine at a crucial moment for Kyiv, with Russia pressing what it believes is a battlefield advantage. For Zelensky, it has proved to be yet another close escape for a wartime leader who has had many of them since Russia invaded his country in February 2022. Back then, he drew global praise for holding resolute in Kyiv and galvanizing a fierce defense that U.S. intelligence agencies and others felt was unlikely. Now, under very different circumstances, he may have achieved another unexpected win. Trump's allies say that he hasn't abandoned his primary goal: ending the war as quickly as possible. 'I'm on nobody's side. You know the side I'm on? Humanity's side. I want to stop the killing of thousands of people a week,' Trump told reporters on Tuesday. But the Trump allies acknowledge the president's mounting frustration with Putin and growing receptivity to the weapons-sales plan hatched among European leaders and Zelensky. The plan allows Trump to keep an arm's length from support for Ukraine, while still preserving Ukraine's strength enough to pressure Moscow toward a peace deal. Zelensky said this week that he felt Trump was starting to see Putin in a less idealistic light. 'President Trump realizes that Putin is lying to him, and it is important that President Trump sees this for himself, not what he hears from someone else, but what he sees with his own eyes,' the Ukrainian leader told Newsmax — one of Trump's favored media outlets. 'We have supported all the U.S. initiatives on the ceasefire. I supported all of President Trump's initiatives, and he saw the reality. Putin just says one thing and then bombs.' The patched relationship between Zelensky and Trump was not foreordained. Policymakers and strategists from the U.S. and several European countries said that a coordinated effort to help rehabilitate Zelensky's relationship with the president sparked into motion even before the Ukrainian leader departed Washington on that end-of-February evening, after White House staff dined on the lunch that was supposed to be shared with the Ukrainians. European leaders helped draft language for Zelensky to use to apologize to Trump. They brainstormed a ceasefire proposal acceptable to Ukrainians that Russia ultimately rejected. And European leaders who have cellphone relationships with Trump — he sometimes rings out of the blue — used their moments on the line with him to underscore that Putin threatened U.S. interests. French President Emmanuel Macron has been especially helpful, two European diplomats said, using his long-standing — albeit sometimes bumpy — relationship with Trump to hammer at the idea that supporting Ukraine will help deliver wins for the White House. The two leaders speak almost every other day, the diplomats said, calling each other directly for impromptu talks about the challenges of the moment. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also focused on building warm ties, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz helped in recent weeks after he struck up a good relationship with Trump following their first Oval Office meeting in early June. Finnish President Alexander Stubb — whose golf game is excellent — also possesses the presidential digits. NATO chief Mark Rutte, who sat in the Oval Office with the president as he announced the new weapon-sales plan, has been on a Trump charm offensive. After the February debacle, Zelensky calmed tensions in subsequent face-to-face interactions with Trump. At the urging of Macron and Starmer, Zelensky and Trump spoke privately, without aides, at the Vatican in April when both men were there for Pope Francis's funeral. That conversation helped reset the relationship, diplomats said. They met again in late June at a NATO summit in the Netherlands, where Zelensky brought a wish list of weapons alongside a proposal: The United States could keep weapons flowing if the Europeans helped Kyiv pay, three European officials said. The NATO meeting seemed to go a long way toward patching the relationship, the officials said. One official described the meeting in The Hague as 'instrumental.' Another noted that Zelensky arrived in a suit-like jacket and shirt, after having been chastised for showing up at the White House in his more favored military-style fatigues. (Zelensky has said he'll wear a suit once the war is over.) In their own conversations with Trump, European leaders sought to flip the script and assert that Putin was obstructing the president's ambitions to end the war. And last month, NATO officials made a concerted effort to deliver Trump a diplomatic win by promising a giant increase in European military outlays and tailoring the NATO summit to his attention span and his desire to declare successes. A European diplomat said it was made clear to Zelensky that the NATO summit would focus on defense spending and putting on a 'Trump show,' and could be less focused on Ukraine than in years past. Creating a meeting that appealed to Trump would benefit Kyiv, even if there were fewer fresh promises for Ukraine in the NATO leaders' declaration, diplomats told Zelensky. The bet paid off. Both Trump and Zelensky left their meeting in The Hague feeling it was 'very friendly,' the European official said. Trump's softened tone could be seen in an exchange between the president and a Ukrainian reporter for the BBC during a news conference at the NATO meeting. The reporter asked Trump whether he would sell Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine. The president expressed sympathy to the reporter about the fact that she was living in Poland with her children while her husband fought on Ukraine's front lines. Zelensky and the European leaders' efforts 'built up to this moment,' the European official said. 'It might have changed the trajectory. … There has been very careful work to help with this relationship,' he said. In conversations with European leaders, Trump expressed frustration after speaking with Putin, who he said seemed intent on seizing more Ukrainian territory, a second official said. In his July 4 call with Zelensky, Trump said that Ukraine would not change the course of the war by playing defense and needed to go on the offensive, the Ukrainian official said. When Trump asked if Ukraine could bomb Moscow or St. Petersburg, the official said, Zelensky replied, 'If we have the right weapons we can.' The Financial Times first reported elements of the call. Asked about the call earlier this week, Trump said, 'No, he shouldn't target Moscow.' He added that he wouldn't supply longer-range weaponry to Ukraine that would enable it to hit the Russian capital. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump had asked Zelensky about Ukraine's ability to hit Russian territory but said the question had been taken out of context. Trump was simply seeking information, not advocating that Zelensky do it, she said. Now Trump has set a 50-day clock for Russia to reach a peace deal before imposing 100 percent tariffs on Russian imports and secondary sanctions against buyers of Russian energy. New U.S. weaponry could reach Ukraine much faster than that, a second Ukrainian official said. Longer-range ATACMS missiles and other weapons 'could change the trajectory at least for the next six months, or maybe more,' the official said. 'If it is concentrated support for 50 days, that would be great.' Still, Trump has zigzagged so often that some officials were reluctant to describe it as a change of heart. 'He seems to be realizing that he can't trust Putin,' the second European official said. 'So things are positive, until they change again.' O'Grady reported from Kyiv, Francis reported from Brussels and Belton reported from London. Emily Davies in Washington and David L. Stern and Lizzie Johnson in Kyiv contributed to this report.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Zelenskyy appoints a new prime minister for a war-weary nation
KYIV, Ukraine — Fresh off securing a plan to receive more U.S. weaponry, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed a new prime minister -- the key negotiator of his country's deal with the U.S. to partner on the development of rare earth minerals. By naming Yulia Svyrydenko, the former economy minister, to become the country's first new head of government since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Zelenskyy on Thursday elevated a loyal politician who has experience in diplomacy with the U.S. and other Western nations. In addition to negotiating the U.S.-Ukraine mineral agreement, the 39-year-old Svyrydenko has represented Ukraine in a wide range of high-level talks with Western partners, including on issues of defense and economic recovery and reconstruction. In 2022, she negotiated with other countries to impose sanctions on Russia. The outgoing prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, will become defense minister at a time when Ukraine is looking to ramp up domestic weapons production, and as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to bring an end to the war. 'War leaves no room for delay,' Svyrydenko said on X after the parliament voted to approved her promotion. 'We must act swiftly and decisively. Our priorities for the first six months are clear: reliable supply for the army, expansion of domestic weapons production, and boosting the technological strength of our defense forces.' Svyrydenko and Shmyhal are among a wider group of officials taking on new leadership roles as Zelenskyy aims to reenergize a war-weary nation. But to Ukrainians, the reshuffling of the Cabinet is not seen as a major shift in direction for Zelenskyy, who will still be mostly relying on the same experienced officials, as opposed to introducing new faces to his leadership team. Earlier this week, Trump endorsed a plan to have European allies buy billions of dollars of U.S. military equipment -- including air-defense systems -- that can be transferred to Ukraine, which has come under intense Russian attacks. 'We all want peace as soon as possible,' Zelenskyy said Thursday in a speech to Ukraine's parliament. 'At the same time, we all see how difficult it is to maintain sufficient global support, and how many other wars and crises are flaring up around the world, truly scattering global efforts. Therefore, Ukraine needs more of its own strength.' In announcing the weapons plan on Monday, Trump also made an ultimatum to Russian President Vladimir Putin, promising to impose stiff tariffs on countries that purchase its oil if he doesn't agree to a ceasefire within 50 days. Shmyhal, who announced his resignation as prime minister on Tuesday, was the longest-serving head of government in Ukraine's history, serving since March 2020. Shmyhal will replace Rustem Umerov as defense minster. Although Umerov sought to push reforms, critics said the ministry under his command was plagued by mismanagement. Also on Thursday, Zelenskyy nominated Olga Stefanishyna to become Ukraine's next ambassador to the United States. In the meantime, he appointed Stefanishyna, previously the minister for European integration, as the special representative for the development of cooperation with the United States. Ties between Ukraine and the U.S. have been uneasy since Trump returned to the White House in January, and Zelenskyy had previously said he intended to replace Oksana Markarova as Ukrainian ambassador in the U.S. Hanna Arhirova, The Associated Press
Al Jazeera
6 days ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Europe assumes financial burden of Ukraine war, angering Russia
The United States and Germany have struck a deal to provide Ukraine with weaponry to protect cities from nightly Russian attacks. Germany was prepared to pay for the systems as part of a broader US deal to sell Europe arms destined for Ukraine. Details began to emerge on July 10 when Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany would buy US-made air defence systems. 'We are also prepared to purchase additional Patriot systems from the US to make them available to Ukraine,' Merz was quoted as saying on the sidelines of a Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome. On Friday, US President Donald Trump told NBC News that the US would sell NATO US-made weapons, including the Patriots, that NATO would give to Ukraine. Adding to the crescendo, US Senator Lindsey Graham told CBS on Sunday: 'In the coming days, you will see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves.' Meanwhile, Russia continued to capture Ukrainian villages. On Friday, the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed to have seized Zelyonaya Dolina in the eastern region of Donetsk and Sobolevka in Kharkiv in the northeast. Nikolayevka in Donetsk fell on Sunday, Malinovka in Zaporizhia on Monday and Novokhatskoye in Donetsk on Wednesday. Yet even at this accelerated rate of 15sq km (6sq miles) a day, Russia would need 89 years to capture the rest of Ukraine, The Economist magazine estimated. Russia continued to pound Ukraine's cities with combinations of drones and missiles every night over the past week. The biggest attack came early on Saturday. The Ukrainian air force said it downed or electronically suppressed 577 of 597 drones launched overnight and 25 of 26 Kh-101 cruise missiles. June also saw the highest monthly civilian casualties in three years with 232 people killed and 1,343 injured, the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said. Trump: 'We're getting our money back in full' Trump announced on Monday at the White House that he had approved $10bn in weapons sales to Ukraine, which were to be paid for by Ukraine's European allies. 'We've made a deal today where we're going to be sending them weapons and they're going to be paying for them,' he said. He doubled down on that financial message, telling reporters on Tuesday that after spending billions to help Ukraine, 'we're getting our money back in full.' Graham played on the same theme. 'Stay tuned for a plan where America will begin to sell to our European allies tremendous amounts of weapons that can benefit Ukraine,' he told CBS. Trump said he would send 17 Patriot systems to Ukraine. It was not clear if this meant 17 batteries or 17 launchers. 'It's everything. It's Patriots. It's all of them. It's a full complement with the batteries,' Trump said. A Patriot battery usually contains six launchers, each typically carrying four missiles. The particulars of the deal have remained murky and perhaps deliberately so. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, who was in Washington, DC, on Monday, didn't disclose details. 'But one thing is clear – and this is a message to all other European NATO members: Everyone must open their wallets. It's about urgently raising the funds needed, especially for air defence, because Ukraine is under enormous pressure,' Pistorius said. Russia has increased its attacks on Ukraine's cities since the beginning of the year. In June alone, Moscow launched 330 missiles and 5,000 drones against Ukraine. While Patriots are too expensive to use on drones, they are the only weapon in Ukraine that can shoot down ballistic missiles and are also effective against cruise missiles. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in April that Ukraine needed 10 more Patriot systems to protect its cities – presumably referring to complete batteries. Germany's head of defence planning, Major General Christian Freuding, said on Saturday that Pistorius and his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, had discussed a German offer to buy two Patriot systems for Ukraine. It was not clear if Pistorius's visit to Washington, DC, was related to that. On Tuesday, Trump told reporters the Patriot systems were 'already being shipped, … coming in from Germany'. Separately, Zelenskyy told Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, when they met in Kyiv on Monday that Ukraine was ready 'to purchase American weapons, particularly air defence systems'. Russia reacts with fury to US-German deal as Trump weighs sanctions Moscow has balked at the Western deal for Ukraine. 'Mr Merz is a fierce proponent of confrontation on all fronts and of aggressively mobilising Europe,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Germany, France and the United Kingdom were 'attempting to raise Europe for war, … a direct war against Russia'. Trump also announced possible secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil. 'We are very, very unhappy with Russia – I am,' he said Monday in the White House while sitting next to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. 'I am disappointed in President [Vladimir] Putin because I thought we would have a deal two months ago.' Trump said he was putting Putin on 50 days notice. 'We're going to be doing secondary tariffs if we don't have a deal in 50 days. It's very simple. And they'll be at 100 percent.' The tariffs would be levied on goods the US imports from countries that buy Russian oil, an idea Graham has aggressively pursued in recent weeks, naming China, India and Brazil as the worst offenders. 'We would like to understand what is behind this statement about 50 days,' Lavrov said. 'Earlier, there were also the deadlines of 24 hours and of 100 days. We've seen it all and really would like to understand the motivation of the US president.' Lavrov was referring to Trump's campaign boast that he would end the war in Ukraine in a day and Kellogg's self-imposed 100-day goal to bring about a ceasefire. Some observers are sceptical about whether Trump will get tough on Putin, whom he has openly admired. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, shrugged off Trump's remarks. 'Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn't care,' he wrote on social media. But Peskov on Tuesday called Trump's remarks 'very serious', adding: 'Something in them concerns President Putin personally.' On Wednesday, the normally restrained Peskov sounded even more alarmed that Europe was now willing to foot the bill for the war without US assistance. 'What we are observing so far is that the Europeans are displaying a completely aggressive militarist stance, declaring their intention to spend enormous funds to purchase weapons, to further provoke the continuation of war,' Peskov said. 'Of course, it is very hard to predict anything amid such an emotional state, bordering on irrationality, which reigns on the European continent,' he added. The only thing that assuaged Russian concerns was indecision over sending Ukraine Germany's Taurus missiles, which can strike deep inside Russia with large warheads. That news suggested that Europeans 'still have some sense of reason left', Peskov said on Wednesday. European defence and reconstruction without the US Europe's willingness to spend on defence may also have brought forth the dawn of more independence from the US. Last week, the UK and France announced a scaling-up of their Combined Joint Force to a corps level, a reorientation of that force from overseas expeditions, 'refocusing it on defending Europe' and upgrading it 'to war-fighting readiness'. They announced new procurement of Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles and joint research on a generation of missiles that would 'harness the power of AI'. They also issued the Northwood Declaration on closer nuclear coordination. 'Any adversary threatening the vital interests of Britain or France could be confronted by the strength of the nuclear forces of both nations,' the UK Ministry of Defence said. France and Britain are the only European states with a nuclear deterrent. The US Senate Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, approved $500m in security assistance for Ukraine as part of its draft language for the next fiscal year – the only military aid announced under the Trump administration. Under former President Joe Biden, the US spent $64.6bn on military aid to Ukraine, according to a tracker run by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Biden also left $4bn unspent in the form of a presidential authority to draw down weapons from US stockpiles and send them to Ukraine. Trump has not exercised that authority, insisting that the US needs to be paid back. As Trump touted $10bn in weapons sales, the European Commission announced 10 billion euros ($11.6bn) in investments in Ukraine, leveraged through 2.3 billion euros ($2.7bn) in loans and grants from European institutions. The announcement came at the Ukraine Recovery Conference. The money is for rebuilding critical infrastructure and networks and helping small businesses. 'We need a Marshall Plan-style approach,' Zelenskyy declared upon arrival in Rome, referring to the post-World War II system of grants from the US that rebuilt the European economy.
Bloomberg
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
How North Korea Is Giving Russia an Edge in the War on Ukraine
By and Soo-Hyang Choi Save Without the involvement of North Korea, Russia's war in Ukraine might have taken a different turn. The infusion of weaponry and troops provided by Kim Jong Un's regime has helped Russia to repel Ukrainian forces from its soil and keep up the relentless bombardment of Ukrainian towns and cities. North Korea has likely received military aid in return, increasing the threat posed by the isolated nation to the US and its allies in East Asia. Russian President Vladimir Putin long treated North Korea with ambivalence, maintaining relations while viewing Pyongyang as a potentially destabilizing influence in Russia's vast backyard. But the alliance they struck up in recent years is proving to be an effective riposte to the sanctions imposed on both nations by Western powers.
Reuters
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Trump says Zelenskiy should not target Moscow
WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy should not target Moscow and that Russian President Vladimir Putin should agree to a ceasefire deal by a 50-day deadline or sanctions will kick in. His comments came after The Financial Times, citing people briefed on discussions, reported on Tuesday that Trump had privately encouraged Ukraine to step up deep strikes on Russia. The newspaper added that Trump asked Zelenskiy whether he could strike Moscow if the U.S. provided long-range weapons. "No, he shouldn't target Moscow," Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House when asked if Zelenskiy should attack the Russian capital. Trump on Monday announced a toughened stance against Russia for its three-year-old war in Ukraine, promising a fresh wave of missiles and other weaponry for Ukraine. He gave Moscow 50 days to reach a ceasefire or face sanctions. Asked if he was now on the side of Ukraine, Trump said, "I am on nobody's side," and then declared he was on "humanity's side" because "I want to stop the killing." Trump defended the deadline he set for Russia to agree to a deal and head off tariffs and sanctions on countries that buy oil from Russia. "I don't think 50 days is very long and it could be sooner than that," he said. He did not say whether any talks were planned to try to work out a deal with Russia. "At the end of the 50 days if we don't have a deal, it's going to be too bad," he said.
