LUGANSK, October 19. /TASS/. Disagreements between US President Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky will have no impact on the course of military operations in Ukraine, military expert Andrey Marochko told TASS.
"Friction between the American leader and Ukraine’s illegitimate president is nothing new; it has been going on for a long time. I would not go so far as to suggest that these sharp exchanges between the two could fundamentally alter the situation in the zone of the special military operation," he said.
Marochko believes Trump’s criticism of Zelensky is partly motivated by the US midterm elections scheduled for November. "Certainly, no major steps will be taken against Zelensky over the next two weeks. There may be further gestures or ‘lessons’ - such as restricting Starlink services or delaying intelligence transfers. However, at this point, I see no indication that the American leader’s animosity toward this upstart from Ukraine could fundamentally change the course of events," Marochko noted.
On Trump and Zelensky’s relationship
According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), relations between Trump and Zelensky began to worsen after a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, during which the US president demanded that Zelensky explain Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil refineries.
Since then, Washington has asked Kiev six times to halt the attacks, while Trump’s attitude toward Zelensky has continued to deteriorate.
On October 10, following Zelensky’s criticism of an agreement between Moscow and Washington on Russian diesel supplies, Trump said Ukraine should hold elections. He also argued that Zelensky could have ended the conflict with Russia many times over but had chosen not to do so.
Zelensky rejected calls for elections, warning that Kiev was losing an important partner in Washington. The WSJ assessed that Trump’s latest remarks reflected a deterioration in relations with Zelensky to their lowest point since last winter.