Exclusive | Zelenskys friend list dwindling in the Trump White House as peace talk tensions grow: Best case is that he leaves to France immediately
WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has few — if any — advocates in President Trump’s inner circle as the pair’s souring relationship threatens to tank Kyiv’s standing in peace talks with Russia.The ever-tenuous relationship between the two leaders descended into open hostility this week after Ukraine’s president rejected an initial US proposal to sign over 50% of his country’s rare earth elements to the US as repayment for military aid — while rebuking Trump’s emissaries for meeting Russian diplomats without him.Trump retaliated by blasting Zelensky as a “Dictator,” erroneously claiming the Ukrainian had a 4% approval rating and even suggesting he had triggered Russia’s February 2022 invasion, with Zelensky in turn accusing the leader of the free world of living in a “disinformation space.”While the deterioration between Washington and Kyiv appears sudden, one source familiar with White House discussions told The Post Thursday: “It’s nothing new to me.“I heard months ago it’s time for an election and new leadership,” added this person, who said the public breakdown was a long time coming and that anti-Zelensky feeling is widespread within the West Wing.The “real question is, has anyone told [Trump] they really, really like him?” the source said of the Ukrainian president.A second source close to Trump concurred with the assessment and suggested that “the best case for [Zelensky] and the world is that he leaves to France immediately.”A White House official, meanwhile, privately confided their anti-Zelensky views, telling The Post that “like the Pope, I’m no fan of someone who bans churches” — referring to Zelensky’s August law that outlawed religious organizations linked to the Russian Orthodox Church, which has close relations with the Kremlin.That official added that the Republican Party “is a big tent on Ukraine” and posited that there are are “people in the White House [who] have a t...