Presidency denies TIME's claims Zelenskyy considers allies 'traitors' amid war fatigue

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine strongly rejected claims in a Time article as "subjective" and untrue, with presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak telling Radio Liberty that Kyiv forcefully denies allegations the leader views allies as "traitors" made in Simon Shuster's piece published yesterday.

On Monday, the weekly magazine Time wrote, citing interlocutors allegedly in the presidency, that Zelenskyy is "angry" and "feels betrayed by his allies". The president's "aides" also claimed that "serious" changes in Ukraine's military strategy and "major shakeups" in Zelenskyy's team should be expected by winter.

Podolyak called the accents in the material "the subjective point of view of a specific journalist" and said that he did not understand who these "anonymous sources" of Shuster's are.

He expressed the opinion that sometimes such sources "do not have access to certain information", but they are "somewhere nearby, they want to increase their weight, and their vision is passed off as axiomatic knowledge".

The adviser to the presidential chief-of-staff assured that he was not Shuster's "anonymous source".

Regarding the alleged "angry" Zelenskyy, the chief communicator of the President's Office said that, "of course, the president takes a hard view of the fact that we have been at war for 600 days," and that it is "difficult" to be in a state of full-scale war for almost two years.

"I wouldn't say that there is any anger, or that we consider our partners traitors," Podolyak said, but he noted that Kyiv expects a faster and larger supply of military aid to end the war on "fair" terms.

He added that "there is a bit of a misunderstanding" as to why allies are delaying such aid.

The fact that the world's attention to Russia's war against Ukraine is dissipating over time, in particular due to the appearance on the globe of other points of interest of global politicians, according to Podolyak, "cannot fail to cause certain reactions of a negative plan."

"But this is an objective process, we have to work with it. And therefore to say that the president is "angry" – yes, he wants more effective communications, the performance of functional duties and a clear understanding of what strategy we have and how it is implemented," he added.

According to the advisor to the head of the President's Office, Zelenskyy would like the stated intentions of the allies "to be realized at least by 70-80%."

He added that there is "fatigue", "but not in the president, but in general", in particular in terms of relations with partners: "I would like a clearer fixation of the specifics, an understanding: we give you this, and you must come to such a final with us".

According to John Herbst, the American ambassador in Kyiv in 2003-2006, the White House and President's Offuce need to clearly define what is considered a victory for Ukraine.

On October 13, 2023, Zelenskyy announced a historic turn in Russia's war against Ukraine.

The national debt of Ukraine will exceed 100% of GDP in two years, according to a new IMF forecast.

At the end of October, the National Bank of Ukraine revised its forecasts: inflation will be lower, GDP will be higher, and the war will last longer.