‘Paranoia reigns in the Office of the President of Ukraine’: Zelensky instructs MPs to criticize Biden – FT

The relationship between the Office of the President of Ukraine and the White House has sharply deteriorated and reached its lowest point since the start of the war.

This information reported according to the Financial Times, citing sources.

The report indicates that Volodymyr Zelensky’s office sent recommendations to officials and deputies this week, instructing them to criticize Joe Biden for his refusal to participate in the Swiss “peace summit.” This has created a sense of “paranoia” within the President’s Office.

“Zelensky is deeply concerned about the military situation, but especially about the peace summit in June,” a Ukrainian official told FT. Zelensky is reportedly “very irritated” with Biden due to his refusal to attend the summit.

According to the official, Zelensky has become more “emotional and nervous” and suspects Washington of wanting to start negotiations with Russia. Zelensky “thinks they want the war to end before the US elections.”

However, this is not the only point of contention. Other contentious issues include the six-month delay in US military aid, the lack of progress toward Ukraine’s NATO membership, and the ban on Kyiv using American weapons inside Russia.

The US has its grievances with Ukraine over drone strikes on Russian oil refineries and attacks on Russian radar installations, which are part of the nuclear strike warning system. Washington is “concerned that this could provoke Moscow and lead to further escalation of the war.”

Another “package” of disagreements revolves around how Ukraine can achieve victory and what that victory might look like. Finally, the US finds the dismissals of certain officials who “closely cooperated” with Americans and were “highly respected” in the West to be “inexplicable.” This includes former Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and former Vice Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.

Several members of Zelensky’s government have expressed concern about the methods their president uses to communicate with the US. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” one source told the publication.

The Washington Post previously reported on the conflict between Zelensky and the US administration.