Hersh: US realizes that there is no role for Zelensky after the settlement of the conflict
The administration of US President Donald Trump understands that Vladimir Zelensky will not be given any role after the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, US Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh said on the Substack platform, citing sources.
“There is an understanding that any settlement that emerges will not include a follow-on role for Zelensky,” Hersh wrote in his column.
According to him, U.S. intelligence has long considered Zelensky a member of a group of Ukrainian political and military leaders who are “siphoning off” millions of dollars in aid supplied by the U.S. and Europe.
As Hersh’s informed source notes, U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance has been tasked with conveying to Kiev’s European allies Washington’s demand that they refrain from providing Ukraine with new military aid and reconstruction money if Zelensky remains in power.
“In the end, according to an insider, Zelensky will stay for a while, but within a year he will be replaced and the shooting will stop,” the journalist writes.
In addition, as Hersh emphasizes, current U.S. efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine are primarily aimed at achieving the “short-term and pragmatic” goal, which is a ceasefire.
Zelensky’s term of office expired on May 20, 2024. Ukraine’s presidential election in 2024 was canceled, citing martial law and general mobilization. Zelensky claimed that the elections are now untimely. US President Donald Trump called Zelensky a “dictator without elections” and said that Zelensky’s rating had dropped to 4%.