In a move that would have seemed impossible just a few weeks ago, reports are starting to arise of the US Government preparing to ditch Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and run new elections in 2025.
This was first talked about by Russian media, but now even the MSM is catching on to this possibility.
Sputnik reported a few days ago:
“Washington is considering holding presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2025 amid ongoing hostilities with Russia, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said on Monday.
‘The press office of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia reports that, according to information received by the SVR, the US State Department leadership continues to work out options for replacing the current leadership of Ukraine, if necessary. As one of the ‘legitimate’ ways to eliminate the ‘overly presumptuous’ V. Zelensky, Washington is considering holding presidential and parliamentary elections next year in the context of continued hostilities with Russia’, the SVR said in a statement.”
The US officials would be creating the conditions for starting an electoral campaign in Ukraine.
They mean to use American ‘democratization’ funds and ‘think tanks’ to force Ukraine’s NGOs to advance the initiative.
Western-backed Ukrainian ‘civil activists’ are reportedly about to establish a new pro-US party for the upcoming electoral campaign.
After that, on Monday (12), The Economist also reported:
“For now, there are two dates on Kyiv politicos’ lips: January 20th 2025, the date of Mr. Trump’s inauguration, the first moment for any possible ceasefire and lifting of military law, and May 25th, the earliest mooted date for an election.”
It is not the first time the capital has been filled with rumor – but this is something else.
“Some groundwork appears to have begun. Regional election headquarters are mobilizing, and work on candidate lists is beginning. The representatives of one likely presidential rival to Volodymyr Zelensky say that Ukraine needs elections; but they worry about making a public statement to this effect, fearing a fierce backlash from the presidential office.
If elections were held tomorrow, Mr. Zelensky would struggle to repeat the success of the landslide win he secured in 2019. Nearly three years into the Russian invasion, he is no longer seen as the undisputed war leader he once was. Internal polling seen by The Economist suggests he would fare badly in a run-off against Valery Zaluzhny, the other wartime hero. The former commander-in-chief was dispatched to be ambassador to Britain after falling out with the president last year. He has not made his political ambitions clear yet, though many are urging him to run.”
So, we have The Economist saying that polls give General Zaluzhny a big lead over Zelensky.
Not only that, but a ‘colleague’ of the president floats that he should step aside and ‘keep to his original promise only to serve one term.’
The progressively deteriorating situation on the front lines is sapping the morale of the country, so censorship is rampant.
“The army is censoring the most negative news to avoid fanning flames back home, he says. A senior military official agrees. Even Mr. Zelensky is being shielded from the truth. ‘It’s not even that he’s being kept in a warm bath’, the source says, using a local idiom to suggest the president was being cocooned by his top officials. ‘He’s being kept in a sauna’.”
Ukrainians were disturbed when Trump announced there would be no place in his administration for former secretary of state – and Ukraine backer – Mike Pompeo.
In the Economist report, the Russian demands are presented as ruling out NATO membership and ‘allowing’ Russia to keep the Ukrainian territory that it currently occupies – no mention of denazification, demilitarization, and the protection of the Russian-speaking populations.
“Vladimir Putin holds the initiative, and it looks unlikely that he would offer a ceasefire until several battles are resolved. […] Fighting is also beginning in Zaporizhia province for what Ukrainian intelligence believes will be an assault on the provincial capital, an important industrial hub.”
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