Trump is helping Zelensky get re-elected

Ukrainians don’t like it when foreign leaders tell them what to do — whether they are Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump. Yesterday, Trump blamed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for “starting” the war with Russia and demanded that elections take place in Ukraine if it wants to be involved in the peace negotiations. Trump also expressed his disappointment that Zelensky hadn’t struck a deal with Russia before now and said that Zelensky only had a “4 percent” approval rating in Ukraine.

Trump may have been trying to put pressure on Ukraine to make peace faster, but his comments are actually only helping Zelensky secure a second presidential term.

Zelensky’s approval ratings have fallen from their peak of over 90 percent in March 2022, with war fatigue and domestic missteps both playing their part. Yet, he remains a popular wartime leader. The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology put his approval rating at 57 percent this month. Trump’s own approval rating currently stands at around 48 percent.

It's likely that Zelensky’s approval ratings will improve after Trump’s parroting of the Kremlin’s talking points. Ukrainian opposition figures are already taking Zelensky’s side. Inna Sovsun, a Member of Parliament from the Ukrainian liberal Golos Party, addressed Trump directly on X, reminding him that Ukraine won’t hold elections until a peace agreement with security guarantees is in place. In 2023, Ukraine’s party leaders signed a declaration committing to elections six months after the war ends. To break that promise would be to betray the electorate, which does not want to see politicians bickering about an election while the country fights for its survival.

Trump’s beef with Zelensky dates back to 2019 when the president was impeached for pressuring Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son in exchange for military aid. Zelensky’s refusal to sign a deal with Trump over Ukraine’s rare-earth minerals, and his public criticism of the US-Russia negotiations in Saudi Arabia, have not improved their relationship either.

According to European Pravda, Trump’s team reportedly blackmailed Zelensky in Munich last week to make him sign a deal granting the US 50 percent of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, oil and gas deposits, and revenues from its ports and infrastructure. Zelensky was reportedly given an ultimatum: sign now, or there would be no deal — and no meeting with J.D. Vance to discuss Ukraine’s peace terms. Zelensky refused. Vance met him anyway.

Zelensky’s refusal to play ball explains why Trump would like to see the Ukrainian president removed. But Trump is ignoring one crucial factor: the Ukrainian people. After all the death and destruction, Ukrainians are never going to replace Zelensky with a pro-Russian puppet or a leader willing to trade sovereignty for peace.

In reality, no Ukrainian leader is ever going to accept a deal like the one Trump has currently proposed. It is just a form of reparations for past aid, with no security guarantees for Ukraine. "We gave them I think $350 BILLION... where is all the money that’s been given? Where is it going? I don’t see any accounting!" Trump said last night. His own Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, debunked such claims earlier this month, stating that America has spent $174 billion on Ukraine and tracks every dollar with inspectors on the ground.

Zelensky’s refusal to hand over Ukraine's resources to Trump is widely supported by Ukrainians. If anything, his defiance against Trump means voters are more likely to overlook his domestic missteps until the war ends.

Even if Trump and Russia manage to force Ukraine to hold elections, they are likely to be disappointed by the outcome. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians will vote for Zelensky: not because they necessarily like him, but because he’s their legitimate wartime leader, and it's up to them to decide when to get rid of him.