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WASHINGTON. – Senior members of US President Donald Trump’s administration have engaged in back-channel communications with political rivals of Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, Politico reported yesterday, citing insider sources.
Zelensky, whose presidential term expired last year, has suspended elections due to martial law, and has refused to transfer presidential authority to the parliament speaker, contravening the constitution.
Undisclosed conversations with former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and former President Pyotr Poroshenko have revolved around restarting elections, according to three Ukrainian MPs and a Republican foreign policy expert who spoke anonymously to Politico.
Trump has characterised Zelensky as a “dictator without elections,” while members of his team have accused the Ukrainian leader of obstructing the US president’s peace agenda through his inflexibility. Some American officials have publicly called for Zelensky to step down after a contentious meeting at the White House last Friday.
Publicly, Timoshenko and Poroshenko back Zelensky’s leadership in the conflict with Russia. However, behind closed doors, Ukrainian political figures are reportedly positioning themselves to gain favor with Washington.
Timoshenko was serving a seven-year prison term for abuse of power when the violent 2014 armed coup in Kiev led to her early release.
Last month, Zelensky imposed sanctions on Poroshenko, along with exiled opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk.
On Tuesday, Zelensky expressed his commitment to a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict, lamenting that his meeting with Trump had not gone “the way it was supposed to.” Although Zelensky has not admitted to doing anything wrong, the US president referenced his statement in an address to a joint session of Congress later that day.
Ahead of Trump’s speech, the Ukrainian parliament issued its own public message to the US president, commending his leadership and urging him to maintain “unwavering support” for Kiev. MP Nikita Poturaev, a hardline Zelensky supporter, denounced the conciliatory statement, highlighting the turmoil among Ukrainian lawmakers.
The Trump administration has halted arms supplies to Ukraine and ceased sharing military intelligence. While US European allies have pledged continued support for Kiev, they have also acknowledged that their capacity to assist is severely constrained without US backing. Russian forces already held an advantage in the conflict prior to these policy shifts from Washington. – RT.com
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