A top aide to Volodymyr Zelensky told TIME Magazine that the Ukrainian President is delusional about thinking Ukraine is winning in their war with Russia. Another admitted to persisting corruption in the country.
In an interview with Zelensky entitled “The Lonely Fight of Volodymyr Zelensky,” TIME revealed he was “exhausted” after meetings at the White House and Pentagon and before his speech at the National Archives in Washington.
He told them after, “Nobody believes in our victory like I do. Nobody.” He said that convincing others of success “takes all your power, your energy. You understand? It takes so much of everything.”
After the trip to the US which proved to be disappointing to Ukraine, the publication followed Zelensky back to Kyiv to get an inside look at the reactions of his inner circle and team.
One member reported that Zelensky was feeling “angry” after a closed-door meeting in the Ukraine war room.
Another source, one of the president’s closest aides, told TIME “He deludes himself. We’re out of options. We’re not winning. But try telling him that.”
However, Zelensky continues to reject the idea of a temporary truce. He said “Maybe it will calm some people down inside our country, and outside, at least those who want to wrap things up at any price. But for me, that’s a problem, because we are left with this explosive force. We only delay its detonation.”
He also reportedly refuses to accept that winter will prove harsh conditions for front-line action until spring. A close aide said that despite receiving orders straight from Zelensky to advance, many commanders refuse. “They just want to sit in the trenches and hold the line,” he said.
When asked about why leadership defied an order to “retake the city of Horlivka,” one senior military officer responded, “They don’t have the men or the weapons. Where are the weapons? Where is the artillery? Where are the new recruits?”
In another bombshell admission to TIMES, a top presidential adviser admitted that corruption is still running rampant in the country despite Zelensky firing corrupt officials and implementing anti-corruption reforms to combat bribery and fraud.
When the TIMES interviewer asked the official to confirm his notion that financial fraud had been cleaned up in Ukraine, the adviser asked him to turn off his recording device.
“Simon, you’re mistaken,” he said. “People are stealing like there’s no tomorrow.”
A recruitment officer, when pressed about the aftermath of the mass firings in military leadership, reported the move backfired and recruitment came to a halt.
“Who wants that job?” the officer asks. “It’s like putting a sign on your back that says: corrupt.”
