Trump advisors secretly met with Zelenskyy's opponents in Kyiv – Politico

According to three Ukrainian MPs and an American foreign policy expert from the Republican Party, Trump's representatives held talks with “remorselessly ambitious former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko” and senior members of the party of Petro Poroshenko, Zelenskyy's immediate predecessor as president.

The discussions centered on whether Ukraine could hold early presidential elections. They are postponed under the country's constitution as Ukraine remains under martial law.

According to Politico, Trump's aides are confident that Zelenskyy will lose all the votes due to war fatigue and public discontent over corruption. Indeed, his ratings in polls have been declining for years, although they did increase in early 2025.

The official position of the US administration is that Trump does not interfere in Ukraine's internal politics. This week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick denied that his boss was interfering in Ukrainian politics, adding that all Trump wants is a partnership for peace.

But the behavior of Trump and his officials suggests otherwise. Trump has accused Zelenskyy of being a “dictator without elections,” while Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has accused Kyiv of canceling the election.

But while the Trump team hopes that the election will ruin Zelenskyy, he is still much more popular than Tymoshenko and Poroshenko.

What Zelenskyy's opponents say

The key to all the plans being discussed through unofficial channels is to hold presidential elections after a temporary ceasefire is agreed upon, but before full peace talks begin in earnest. The idea of early presidential elections is also being promoted by the Kremlin, which has been trying to get rid of Zelenskyy for years.

Both Tymoshenko and Poroshenko have publicly opposed holding elections before the end of hostilities, as has Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. But “Poroshenko’s people and Yulia, they’re all talking to Trump World, positioning themselves as people who would be easier to work with. And people who would consent to many of the things that Zelenskyy is not agreeing to,” a leading Republican foreign policy expert told Politico.

Asked whether Tymoshenko has been involved in talks with members of the US administration or Trump's entourage about the presidential election or peace talks, her spokeswoman Natalia Lysova said “We won’t comment on that yet.”

Politico also reached out to Poroshenko's European Solidarity party to ask about talks with Trump's people to discuss the election. The press service responded: “Our narrative is not to push for elections but to secure free and fair competitive post-war elections in our country.”

“It is also logical that any contacts do include the presentation of the vision of President Poroshenko and the European Solidarity on the ways to end the war with (a) just, comprehensive and lasting peace and (on) the limits for possible compromises on the negotiating points,” the statement reads.

For several days now, members of Trump's cabinet have been suggesting that Zelenskyy resign if he does not fully support the US plan to end the war as soon as possible, even if it requires serious concessions from Ukraine.

After the clash at the White House on February 28, the “Zelenskyy should go” topic only intensified, as the Ukrainian leader's domestic political opponents publicly, albeit implicitly, made it clear that Ukraine's relations with Washington are extremely important and must be restored. In Kyiv, this is seen as a criticism of Zelenskyy, who has now said that he regrets the past week of fierce confrontation and is ready to work with Trump for peace.

This week, several parties and faction leaders issued statements saying that Ukraine's priority should be to restore relations with Trump.

Among them are Ruslan Stefanchuk, the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament and a member of Zelenskyy's ruling party, and Dmytro Razumkov, who led the party to a parliamentary victory in 2019 but is now an independent lawmaker. Razumkov demanded an urgent convocation of a parliamentary session to create a special legislative group to oversee relations with the United States.

Trump's decision this week to suspend military aid to Ukraine only heightened political anxiety and intensified retaliatory actions by Ukrainian politicians against the Trump team.

On Monday, Trump said that Zelenskyy “won’t be around very long” if there is no progress on a peace deal that he is comfortable with. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said Washington needs “a leader that can deal with us, eventually deal with the Russians, and end this war.”

The US president's allies on Capitol Hill also continue to attack Zelenskyy, with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham suggesting that Ukraine will “need to get somebody new” if Zelenskyy does not see things the way Trump does.

All of this is prompting Zelenskyy's domestic political opponents and even some former allies to fawn over Trump's team to get his blessing. “They’re positioning themselves as the best people to work with. And people who would consent to many of the things that Zelenskyy isn’t consenting to,” the Republican expert said.

Poaching parliamentarians

The upheaval caused by the Oval Office scandal has also led to talk of a parliamentary reshuffle.

According to Politico, Tymoshenko has been reaching out to lawmakers from rival parties in recent weeks to try to convince them to switch sides. She told the lawmakers she was trying to lure that she believed Zelenskyy would have no choice but to call elections soon, which would provide a golden opportunity to form a new parliamentary majority.

Zelenskyy himself has rejected the idea that he will step down, joking with reporters in London over the weekend that even if elections were held this year, he would likely win. “You would have to prevent me from participating in the elections,” he said, before suggesting, as he has done before, that he would only resign if Ukraine gained NATO membership, as that would mean his mission was accomplished.

At first glance, Trump's attacks did not weaken Zelenskyy, who initially received widespread praise, even from critics, for standing his ground in the Oval Office. "But the predictable rally-round-the-leader effect is wearing off as the potential repercussions of the breakdown between Kyiv and Washington are absorbed," said Ruslan Bortnik, director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics. The country's politics are extremely volatile, he said.

Sociologists recorded a sharp increase in Volodymyr Zelenskyy's rating to 65% as of February 20-21. Meanwhile, 76% of respondents trust the former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and now the ambassador to London, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.