Will Ukraine’s Zelensky Survive?

By David Sole

The future of Ukraine and the fate of its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is being decided, as it has been for many years, by their imperialist masters in Washington, D.C.

For a number of weeks the Western media have been painting a picture of Zelensky as inflexibly and delusionally fixated on driving the Russian Federation military forces beyond the borders that existed before February 22, 2022. Of course these same media sources fail to mention that Ukraine and Russia were close to a peace deal in March  2022 just weeks after the start of the Russian Special Military Operation. Numerous sources have since documented that it was the United States that demanded the end to those negotiations and an escalation of the Ukrainian military operations.

Since that time, however, the Ukrainian military has met with defeat after defeat. First came their crushing expulsion from the city of Bakhmut in May 2023. This was followed by a massive Ukrainian offensive all along the 600 mile line of contact that began June 4, 2023. After more than five months of heavy fighting it is obvious that this “offensive” made no progress and cost the Ukrainians tens of thousands of killed and wounded.

Much of the multi-billion dollar heavy armor given to Ukraine by the U.S. and NATO also was destroyed on the battlefield. Still Zelensky told Reuters news agency that he would fight on, even if U.S. aid were to stop coming. “OK, we will fight without you,” said Zelensky, without explaining how he could arm his military without the many tens of billions of dollars in armaments provided by the U.S., or without the almost $1 billion a month in U.S. aid to prop up his economy and government.

It is widely reported that Zelensky and his military leaders are feuding. Several high ranking military officers in charge of offensive operations have been sacked by their president. Zelensky himself publicly warned that a coup was being planned against him, but he made the baseless claim that Russia was behind it. It is clear that if a coup were being floated it would come from the Ukrainian military and others who might be willing to consider a negotiated settlement to their losing war.

According to Bloomberg’s Business News Network:

“Recent conflicts within Ukraine’s ruling circles and criticisms of Zelensky’s offensive strategy have raised tensions. Some experts predict that Zelensky could be overthrown as a result of a  military coup. Former CIA agent Phil Giraldi has even suggested that the CIA might delegate the task of removing the Ukrainian president to local officials.”

One should remember that when a foreign puppet leader becomes a burden in the eyes of the U.S. puppet masters, they have removed or even killed their own creation. Look at the fate of Ngo Dinh Diem who was installed as president of South Vietnam in 1955. He was the darling of the U.S. government until 1963 when mass protests broke out against his government and he lost favor in the eyes of his imperialist masters. “On November 1, 1963, the country’s leading generals launched a coup d’etat with assistance from the Central Intelligence Agency.” The next day Diem and his brother were assassinated.

It should come as no surprise, then, that CIA Director William Burns flew into Kiev on November 15 for secret meetings with Zelensky and other officials. Asia Times reports:

“The crumbling of the Zelensky regime is unsurprising. Ukraine has been sustaining far too many casualties to survive for much longer. Ukraine either must find a way to make a deal with Russia or face an internal rebellion.”

The Russian forces have all the while been strengthening their positions across the board. In the north sector The Russians have been slowly advancing toward Kupiansk. In the eastern theater Russian forces have been moving to encircle Avdeyevka, a heavily fortified city. And all attempts by Ukraine to advance in the south have been stymied. Even a small bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnieper River established by Ukraine has been encircled and resulted in mounting casualties.

Some have wondered why Russia, clearly in a superior military position, has not yet launched a strong counteroffensive now that Ukraine has exhausted itself in their failed efforts. It is likely that Russia is working in a way to keep its casualties low and hoping that the U.S. will force Zelensky, or a replacement, to negotiate a peace treaty.