CNN
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Since Donald Trump was re-elected as US president, world leaders have rushed to curry favor with him, perhaps no more so than in Ukraine.
In his annual New Year’s address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “I have no doubt that America’s new president is willing and able to achieve peace and end Putin’s aggression,” and President Trump said: He made comments that exemplify his approach to gaining support.
Just days later, Mr Zelensky told a US podcaster that Mr Trump won because he was a “much stronger” candidate than Kamala Harris, adding: “He did what he could do intellectually and physically. “I showed that,” he added.
Zelenskiy is not the only prominent Ukrainian trying to win over Trump. In November, a Ukrainian lawmaker from Zelensky’s party nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to a letter obtained by the Kyiv Independent.
Such tactics have long been favored by foreign powers. Recall that China took President Trump to the Forbidden City during his last term in the White House, and that the British government enlisted the help of the royal family.
This is not an entirely new approach for Ukraine either. In what a 2019 CNN op-ed called a “textbook siphon,” President Zelenskiy accused the then-first-term president of the infamous phone call in which he urged Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter. He was heard praising President Trump as a “great teacher.” .
Years later, the stakes couldn’t be higher for Ukraine. Kiev enters 2025 in a weak position in the war against Russia, with Ukraine’s military struggling to stop Russian advances in the east, where it is vastly outnumbered. It seems increasingly unlikely that the occupied Russian territory will be retaken soon.
Under outgoing President Biden, the United States has become the single largest provider of military aid to Ukraine, and Kyiv remains keenly aware of the need to stand by Trump to secure future aid.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Zelenskiy cannot afford to antagonize Mr. Trump,” Joanna Josa, a policy researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told CNN.
“We must at least try to bring him to the Ukrainian side to ensure the best possible outcome for Ukraine. That depends heavily on American support.”
President Trump has repeatedly emphasized the need to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, suggesting negotiations may be imminent. His envoy’s plan to end the war has much to please the Kremlin.
Zelenskiy has said he wants to “cooperate directly” with the new president and appears to be more willing or forced to make concessions on the battlefield.
“Of course, Ukraine will want to regain all the land it lost. But after three years of this exhausting war, there is no prospect of regaining all the land. Ukrainians will take this with a heavy heart. is gradually starting to be accepted,” Hosa said.
Zelensky has frequently described President Trump as strong, and it is clear that he is trying to appeal to the president-elect, who calls for “peace through strength.”
“Mr. Trump could be decisive. I think this is the most important thing for us. His qualifications are such that he will play a decisive role in this war. He can stop Putin,” Zelenskiy told United News, Ukraine’s wartime television network, earlier this month.
Olysia Rutsevich, deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the London-based think tank Chatham House, believes Mr. Zelensky’s praise is largely taken as sincere. She told CNN: “I think he truly believes that President Trump can take bold action. And that hope lies not just in President Zelensky’s heart, but in Ukraine more broadly.”
Another factor is that President Trump, unlike previous U.S. administrations, fundamentally believes that he can forge a good relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. While other world leaders have shunned Putin, he has long expressed his admiration for the president and vowed to meet with him “very soon” after taking office.
On the other hand, Putin, who was criticized by Biden as a “butcher,” seems willing to build a relationship with Trump. Following Trump’s election victory, President Putin praised Trump and congratulated him, calling him a “courageous man.” At a year-end press conference in December, he said he was ready to hold talks.
Even if Russia were to come to the negotiating table, there is reason to believe that its word could not be trusted. As CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Peyton Walsh points out, Moscow’s previous peace pledges to Ukraine have been marked by deception, and the possibility of a ceasefire may be in name only. It suggests that.
Mr Rutsevich believes the Ukrainian government is trying to present Kiev’s defeat to Moscow as strengthening US “power projection” on the world stage.
“That’s the game. Whether President Trump believes this is a viable strategy is another question,” she said.
And Zelenskiy offered another benefit. Last October, he floated the idea of replacing some U.S. forces based in Europe with Ukrainian troops once Russia’s war in Ukraine ends. He said the Kiev army’s wartime experience could be put to good use and could help strengthen NATO (the military alliance to which Ukraine has received commitments to join) and ensure European security, which could help the U.S. He argued that there is a high possibility of appealing to the leaders. He is a person who has been demanding that Europe make further efforts on the defensive front.
Zelenskiy also appealed to President Trump’s business-minded nature. His so-called “victory plan”, announced last October, includes a major agreement with the United States on minerals, a vital resource that Ukraine has in abundance.
The New York Times reports that the signing of the mineral agreement was delayed twice, with the intention of allowing President Trump to take credit when he takes office.
Mr. Rutsevich claimed that Kiev would make a favorable offer to the United States from an economic point of view. “It turns out that this ‘victory plan’ includes critical minerals, it includes investments…[Ukraine]is basically trying to say that it can be profitable for the United States. It is.”
But while flattering Trump is a common tactic, there is little guarantee it will work because of his unpredictability.
Even after President Trump was welcomed by then-British monarch Queen Elizabeth II in 2019, he issued a series of angry tweets shortly before stepping off a plane, describing London Mayor Sadiq Khan as a “cold loser.” He also accused then-British Prime Minister Theresa May of being a “fool.”
Mr. Hosa believes there is evidence that Mr. Zelensky’s approach is working, and Mr. Trump has acknowledged that it will take more than 24 hours to end the conflict, something he claimed in July 2024. is a sign of a change in his attitude.
“He[Zelensky]had to choose between flattering President Trump or being forced to surrender to President Putin,” Hosa said.
“Flattery is a small price to pay for something better.”
