The Guardian: Vance Called Zaluzhny After Trump And Zelensky's Altercation At The White House
- 25.08.2025, 18:43
That one refused to talk.
Former AFU commander-in-chief and Ukraine's ambassador to the UK Valeriy Zaluzhny has refused contact with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, who called him after a public argument between Vladimir Zelensky and Donald Trump at the White House on February 28.
The newspaper The Guardian reported this, citing unnamed interlocutors.
The paper says it was the US vice president who played a key role in provoking the conflict between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office in February.
The paper notes that Vance called Zaluzhny in early March, three days after the White House altercation, "mulling an alternative to the troubled Zelensky."
Vance's team "tried various diplomatic and other channels" to reach Zaluzhny, one of the three interlocutors said. Zaluzny, after consulting with the head of the Office of the President, declined to take the call," the source said.
One of the sources close to Zaluzny said it was that it was a "demonstrative show of unity" because he understood that supporting Donald Trump's team against his president was not the best option.
"Many of his supporters didn't understand why he did it. But it was his principled position: Ukraine has been humiliated and we must be united," says the publication's interlocutor.
The Guardian notes that no elections are planned in Ukraine, as voting is impossible in a state of war: "But everyone in Ukraine knows that sooner or later politics will return."
It is noted that Zaluzhny has never publicly declared any political ambitions and declines almost all requests for interviews.
But at the Ukrainian embassy in London, "political pilgrims" constantly come to offer him services, express support or try to guess whether Zaluzhny plans to run for election.
The publication also writes that in addition to Ukrainian MPs, social activists, representatives of businessmen, Zaluzhny was visited by former Donald Trump adviser Paul Manafort, who visited him to offer his services as a political consultant in "any future election campaign." The Guardian adds that Zaluzhny declined his offer.
According to the publication, another of Zaluzhny's "guests" was the head of the OP Andrey Yermak.
According to The Guardian's source, at a meeting last November, Yermak suggested that Zaluzhny formally join the president's political team to "present a united front ahead of the upcoming elections." However, Zaluzhny declined the offer.
At the same time, according to the publication's sources, he promised Yermak that he would not criticize Zelensky publicly while the war was going on, and also assured that he would not give the OP "any unpleasant surprises."
"If I decide I want to go into politics, you will hear it from me first, privately," The Guardian quoted Zaluzhny as telling Yermak.