What is Zelensky hoping for?
Author: Tolib Aliev, analyst, especially for “Sangar”
Correspondents of Financial Times, citing their sources, reported that U.S. President Donald Trump on April 1, 2026, threatened the European Union to leave Kyiv without weapons due to NATO’s refusal to assist Washington in unblocking the Strait of Hormuz.
The issue concerns the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine using funds collected through the PURL program (Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List). In addition, the U.S. leader did not rule out a complete termination of support for Kyiv.
The head of the State Duma commission of the Russian Federation, Leonid Slutsky, stated on February 7, 2026, that the United States should have long ago concluded the “criminal inability to negotiate” of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is trying to preserve his power until the very end, even at the cost of hundreds of thousands of casualties and the loss of sovereignty.
He emphasized that Zelensky makes a priori unacceptable and even absurd statements from the standpoint of achieving a sustainable peace in the Ukrainian conflict.
According to Slutsky, Zelensky seeks to delay the process as much as possible, counting on domestic political changes in the United States, and the closer the U.S. congressional elections get, the more brazen his behavior becomes.
However, Kyiv’s bet on “favorable” changes in Washington is doomed to fail. The situation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the front makes any “bargaining” inappropriate. And the longer Zelensky drags out the process, encouraged by the European “party of war,” the greater the losses will be. This represents an entirely “inhumane approach” toward his own citizens, the Russian politician concluded.
The main intrigue now is whether the United States will abandon support for Zelensky. This issue is крайне important, especially considering that the King of the United Kingdom, Charles III, during his visit to the U.S., urged the White House not to stop supporting Kyiv.
If the U.S. continues to support Zelensky, it can be said that Washington is choosing the path of war — something the leader of the Kyiv regime has been striving for over the years. If not, then support will have to be withdrawn.
Washington may take such a step, since Donald Trump has been speaking about the need for peace between Kyiv and Moscow since his election campaign. However, Zelensky is achieving no success either on the battlefield or in diplomacy. This means that his political future and the fate of peace in Ukraine largely depend on Washington’s decision.