Political Strategist: Zelenskyy Has Found A Way To Put Pressure On Trump

Support from Americans is becoming a lever of influence over the White House.

U.S. President Donald Trump is demanding an end to Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries and is easing sanctions against Moscow.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to senators from both parties, seeking to lift restrictions on U.S. military aid. According to him, these restrictions are preventing Ukraine from repelling Russian attacks.

How might concessions to Putin and pressure on Ukraine affect Trump and the Republicans in the congressional elections, given the U.S. president’s low approval rating? The website Charter97.org discussed this with Ukrainian political strategist and managing partner of the “National Anti-Crisis Group,” Taras Zagorodniy:

— Let’s not get too caught up in Trump’s approval ratings, though. If you listen to the arguments about them and read the media that support the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton would have become president back in 2016. Trump has an interesting electorate: people might not say they support him. The problem is that the Democrats don’t really have much to offer either. There’s always a battle for independent voters.

So let’s wait and see the election results. All those polls they publish are nonsense. Trump has won two presidential elections, even though many predicted he would lose.

What’s happening now is a perfectly ordinary story for American presidents. It was the same under Obama, under Biden, and under Bush: “Let’s save Russia because it’s heading for collapse.” In Washington, they can already see this clearly and are trying to backtrack.

But here, I think, Trump really missed the mark when he started doing this openly.

- Why?

- Because even his own supporters—the MAGA crowd, the MAGA bloggers—spoke out against it. There are influential people like Ben Shapiro, Laura Loomer, who was in Ukraine. They support him on Iran, but oppose his actions regarding Ukraine.

These stunts involving shutting down Starlink are hurting the U.S. military-industrial complex and eroding trust in American weapons. I think a great many people are unhappy with what’s happening. And by bringing Russian oil and diesel back to the global market, Trump is working against his own backers—the oil companies whose interests he has been actively promoting.

We’re already seeing how he’s making excuses, how his own officials are covering for him. Zelenskyy also knows how to work with the media. He appears on American channels and says that Trump has, in fact, sided with Russia. And the funniest thing is that Zelenskyy, it turns out, has higher approval ratings than Trump in many states.

That’s why Zelenskyy is capitalizing on this and putting pressure on Trump. Trump is on his own here. He’s trying to avoid impeachment, the risk of which could increase if the Republicans lose their majority in Congress. I think this peak of pressure will subside after the election. Then, of course, there will still be cries and complaints that Zelensky isn’t what he seems, and all that. But Europe stands behind Ukraine, and so does the British Crown—and that’s something that has to be taken into account.

— Zelenskyy reports restrictions on satellite communications, interruptions in intelligence transmission and delays in the delivery of missiles for air defense. What difficulties is Ukraine already facing due to Trump’s new stance, and what might the further consequences be?

— Of course, the military will tell you more about that. As for restrictions on intelligence sharing, that’s already happened. Even then, strikes against Russia continued anyway, because other countries also have reconnaissance satellites. Therefore, the strikes will continue.

As far as I understand from experts’ statements, difficulties arise with intercepting jet-powered drones. Sergey Beskrestnov (Flash), an advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, also spoke about this.

But here’s the thing with missiles: I think there are both objective and subjective factors at play here. The objective factor is that the U.S. cannot produce as many missiles as are needed. They have supply commitments to many countries around the world. It’s easier to build a ballistic missile than an anti-missile to intercept it.

But Ukraine might be allowed to use Starlink at least at an altitude of 200 kilometers over Russian territory. That’s what it’s currently seeking. Then it will be possible to destroy ballistic missile launchers. If there are no launchers, there’s nothing to launch missiles from. Ukraine already has another type of weapon for that purpose. That is the main issue.

In this situation, Zelenskyy is leveraging his media presence and the trust people have in him as the victimized party. And Trump, I think, is making a big mistake: he’s making Americans feel like scum. It comes down to: “Look, you’re not helping.” After all, 70% of Americans support Ukraine. Zelenskyy will continue to show his stubbornness, which even Americans recognize.

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