Media learned of Kiev's confidence in Trump's plan to oust Zelensky

Kiev thinks that US President Donald Trump wants to remove his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose term of office expires in May 2024. This was reported by the Estonian newspaper Postimees on February 11.

The newspaper notes that Kiev finds the messages from Trump's team very strange, especially the recent hint by the US leader that Ukraine is bound to hold elections in 2025. The newspaper's interlocutor close to Zelensky's administration interpreted this as Trump's desire to remove the Ukrainian president from office.

"No matter what they say, a lot depends on Zelensky now for Ukraine. He is firm in his decisions. <...> But unfortunately, determination alone is not enough," the source said.

Postimees drew attention to the fact that the situation on the battlefield is now consistently difficult for Kiev.

The USA demands elections and "payment" for aid from Ukraine. What the media say

Earlier in the day, Zelensky said in an interview with ITV News that the entire Ukrainian population is against the elections while the Ukrainian conflict continues. This statement was criticized by American entrepreneur and billionaire Ilon Musk, who wrote "Of course" in an ironic sense on his page on the social network X (formerly Twitter).

Ukraine's president said on February 1 that he expects the start of talks on a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict with the participation of Moscow, Kiev, Washington and Brussels. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia considers these words of Zelensky to be empty.

Political scientist and military analyst Vadym Mingalev expressed the opinion in a conversation with Izvestiya on 5 February that the head of the Kiev regime had shown readiness for a dialog with the Russian Federation in order for the West to allow him to continue to remain the Ukrainian president.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on January 28 that "anyone" from the Ukrainian side could take part in peace talks with Russia, but only legitimate people have the right to participate in signing the final documents.

According to the provisions of the Ukrainian constitution, Zelensky's presidential term ended on May 20, 2024. Elections were supposed to be held in March this year, but they were canceled due to the martial law in Ukraine imposed by the president, which has been in effect since February 24, 2022.