“A complete failure”: Zelensky was unable to achieve his goals in the U.S. due to misplaced priorities – Politico

The Ukrainian delegation’s visit to the United States ended in complete failure, as the team failed to achieve any positive results.

This was reported by Politico columnist Jamie Dettmer.

According to him, this happened because Kyiv ignored advice from its Republican Party lobbyists in Washington to either postpone the visit or adjust its agenda.

“The meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President Donald Trump could have yielded at least some results if Zelensky had adjusted his position after Trump’s call with Vladimir Putin,” Dettmer wrote.

He noted that Republicans had advised against emphasizing the request for Tomahawk missiles, since after speaking with Putin — and ahead of a planned meeting with him — Trump was clearly unlikely to approve the transfer of such weapons to Ukraine.

“Kyiv ignored the advice of its Republican friends in Washington, many of whom are skeptical that Trump would agree to provide Ukraine with Tomahawks under any circumstances, fearing an escalation of the conflict and deeper U.S. involvement in the war. That’s not even counting the Pentagon’s concerns over its own U.S. stockpiles — something Trump himself mentioned on Friday,” the publication wrote.

As a result, by refusing to drop the Tomahawk request, the Ukrainian delegation missed the opportunity to focus on other important issues — primarily, air-to-air missiles for F-16 and MiG fighter jets, and surface-to-air missiles for Patriot air defense systems.

The emphasis on Tomahawks also distracted attention from other key requests, such as obtaining Trump’s approval to use frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s defense. There was also only limited progress in discussions on U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.

“In fact, a huge delegation of Ukrainian ministers and officials — including the influential head of Zelensky’s office, Andriy Yermak, and Prime Minister Yuliya Svyrydenko — sent to Washington ahead of Friday’s White House meeting, failed completely, unable to conclude several important agreements involving both the U.S. government and the private sector,” Politico wrote, citing a Republican insider. “The idea was that major initiatives would be prepared — including agreements with leading American defense and energy companies — to be signed during the White House meeting. But in the end, nothing was done,” the source said.

Another Republican foreign policy adviser agreed:

“Unfortunately, no concrete agreements were reached throughout the entire week.”

He added that the misplaced focus on Tomahawks was only part of the problem — the timing of Zelensky’s visit and Ukraine’s broader lobbying strategy in Washington were also to blame.

“We strongly urged them to postpone the visit,” he said.

It was important, he added, that Svyrydenko and economic officials be in Washington for the annual IMF and World Bank meetings, but other lobbying efforts should have been delayed by about a week.

Earlier, media outlets reported that during the White House meeting, Trump urged Zelensky to accept the Kremlin’s terms to end the war, warning that Vladimir Putin had expressed his intent to “destroy” Ukraine if it refused.