On Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky rejected any notion of a ceasefire after he decided to interrogate Vice President JD Vance during what was supposed to be a cordial Oval Office presser. The resulting scene snapped the already frayed relationship between the Ukrainian president and President Donald Trump, and the planned mineral rights deal that would have provided Ukraine with more much-needed aid was shelved.
In the aftermath, I penned a piece entitled “What the Heck Was Zelensky Thinking,” gobsmacked at the decision. What was gained by starting a public fight in the White House over the mere mention of diplomacy when all that was left to garner the deal were handshakes and smiles? As I articulated in a later article, Trump does not care what the mainstream press thinks, so attempting to bully him in front of the cameras was always going to have the opposite effect. That the Democrat politicians who hold no power but talk a big game will be of no help to Zelensky goes without saying.
You’d think that after all that self-destructive drama, the Ukrainian president would take a step back and try to reset his diplomatic strategy. Instead, he’s now taking shots at Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of Ukraine’s biggest and most vocal supporters. Has Zelensky lost his mind?
Reporter: “Senator Lindsey Graham said that perhaps you should consider resigning…”
Zelensky: “Lindsey Graham is a very good guy… I can give him Ukrainian citizenship, then his voice will gain weight.”
So, what does @LindseyGrahamSC have to say to that? pic.twitter.com/0VTaO7aiab
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) March 2, 2025
ZELENSKY: Lindsey Graham is a very good guy. A very, very nice, and speaking on who should be the president and whether I shall resign, I can give him the citizenship of Ukraine, he will become the citizen of our country, and then his voice will start to gain weight, and I will hear him as a citizen of Ukraine on the topic of who must be the president.
There are several major issues with this, beginning with the sarcastic undertone of dismissing Graham’s concerns because he’s not a citizen of Ukraine. Graham was rightly upset about what transpired in the Oval Office because he cares so much about Ukraine and wanted to see the mineral rights deal signed. His criticisms of Zelensky in the aftermath were from a place of shock and dismay that the Ukrainian president would do something so counterproductive.
Here’s the thing. When another country gives your country over $200 billion in financial and military aid, you don’t have to let them pick the next president, but you also shouldn’t take shots at their elected representatives for expressing opinions. It’s just bad diplomacy, and it’s doing nothing to help Ukraine.
More importantly, though, Zelensky’s claim that the Ukrainian people have a voice regarding his resignation is not true. As long as martial law remains declared in Ukraine, its constitution forbids elections from taking place. Whenever I mention that, I typically get shouted down as a “Putin stooge” who should immediately explain why Ukraine should be expected to hold elections during wartime. To those people, let me suggest they calm down and listen more closely.
If one believes that Ukraine not holding elections is absolutely necessary, fair enough. My above critique of Zelensky’s statement is not based on that. It is based on his continued assertion (this isn’t the first time he’s said it) that any decision about his resignation is in the hands of the Ukrainian people. Common sense tells you that without elections, that is simply not true. It’s a deflection that comes across as him deliberately misleading about the current situation in his country. Certainly, he shouldn’t use the false claim to snipe at someone like Graham, who has stood by Ukraine through thick and thin.
All of this comes back to the broader question of why Zelensky is behaving this way. Those European leaders who all tweet really strong things are not lining up to save him. Democrat politicians encouraging him to reject a peace deal won’t be writing him a check. The Ukrainian president needs to stop talking to reporters, shut off social media for a while, and start focusing on repairing the relationship with the White House. That he’s doing anything other than that is dumbfounding.
