Of
Marta Serafini
The Ukrainian president: «The attack on Putin’s villa? An invention with which Russia justifies its missiles”
He hoped to return home from Mar-a-Lago more relieved than he had arrived. Then, yesterday, a new problem for Zelensky to handle, that is the accusations from Moscow of having attacked Putin’s villa with drones. Attack defined as a pure invention, to be spent to justify new raids.
The Kiev leader’s trip to Florida ends in a tense atmosphere. From the staff, on condition of anonymity, they say that even before leaving the nervousness was palpable. The fear was to repeat the fiasco of the October meeting when Trump literally made the rags fly by throwing the Donbass maps in his face and reneging on his promise to supply Kiev with Tomahwak missiles.
During the face-to-face meeting, the frost descended when Trump, addressing a journalist and inviting the press to sit down for lunch, used the word “bribe”. The day before departure the Ukrainians woke up to the news that the men of Nabu, one of the anti-corruption agencies cwhich the president tried to dismantle by causing protests, they were trying to enter Parliament to carry out searches and unmask a vote trade.
Furthermore, for the first time, Zelensky had to face Trump without his most trusted friend and advisor, Andriy Yermak, forced to resign after accusations of corruption that have hovered like a black cloud over Bankova for months. Then a joint press conference with Trump in which the Ukrainian president could not hold back a bitter smile while the host defined Putin’s attitude towards Ukraine as “generous”.
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Zelensky’s internal consensus has dropped. Numerous adversaries are coming forwardfrom the mayor of Kiev Vitaly Klitschko, through Valery Zaluzhny, the former chief of staff sent to Great Britain to be ambassador, up to the exponents of the most nationalist wing of Ukrainian society who ride the popular discontent of those who paid a higher price for the war than the Kiev elite. In this context, speaking with journalists, the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly recalled that he is not interested in remaining “attached to the chair”. Managing a country in its fourth year of war with a population exhausted by martial law, the draft, blackouts and above all the high number of deaths on the front risks costing them the entire accumulated political capital.
Closing a deal is in Zelensky’s interests. But, as he explained to the press and as Prime Minister Meloni also reiterated to him during the phone call with the European leaders after the conversation with Trump, it is not enough to reach an agreement. We need to reach a fair agreement. IThe leader of Kiev knows he cannot sign a surrender: the Ukrainians would not follow him and could even turn against him. On the other hand, if he wants to achieve peace, Zelensky must not upset his main ally. It is no coincidence that he is really doing everything he can to try to get the head of the White House on his side. To resolve the most difficult issue, the one on Donbass, he has hinted that he is willing to transform the disputed territory into a “demilitarized special economic zone”, provided that any retreat of the Ukrainian forces is accompanied by the Russian one. This statement was interpreted as a concession by Kiev. In reality, this would mean Moscow giving up control of territories it formally considers Russian and withdrawing from areas it tried to conquer by spending hundreds of thousands of lives.
Trump still seems to favor the Kremlin leader and not only supports him but calls him his “protege”. As military analyst Mick Ryan observes, “Putin is a colonizer and he has thoroughly colonized Trump’s mind.” The fascination that the tsar exerts on the tycoon obviously has to do with economic reasons. But the best card that Zelensky has in his hand to win the game is still the stars and stripes. And only with that can he save Ukraine and himself.
December 30, 2025 (changed December 30, 2025 | 10:54)
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