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2025-05-02 18:20:00
Zelensky Relieved As Trump Quietly Drops A Key Demand
Zelensky Relieved As Trump Quietly Drops A Key Demand
A key Trump demand of the Zelensky government was quietly dropped as a condition of peace talks as well as the Ukraine minerals deal, which was finally signed this week.
Washington is no longer seeking to pressure or force President Volodymyr Zelensky to hold elections that could result in his being ousted office for the sake of peace, according to information in The Telegraph.
"The demand has been quietly dropped from the latest set of American proposals for a ceasefire," The https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-minerals-deal-blames-putin-152225206.html
. "The American decision to stop demanding elections is designed to placate the Ukrainian officials who have argued against swathes of a seven-point peace plan tabled by Mr Trump."
The minerals deal still has to be formally approved by Ukraine's parliament, according to the nation's constitution. Below is said to be the current seven-point plan offered by Trump, aspects of which were previously rejected by Ukrainian officials...
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/seven_1.jpg?itok=ElxzS3f2
As for dropping the demand for Zelensky and parliament to hold elections, the Kremlin itself seems to have somewhat quieted down on this in recent weeks.
Without doubt, Moscow still wants to see Zelensky go, but appears willing to not press the issue if he were willing to give up territory for the sake of ceasefire (which so far isn't happening - not even regarding Crimea).
Zelensky's term in office expired in May 2024, and Ukrainian parliament has recently reaffirmed the 'constitutionality' of Zelensky's mandate as leader of the country during wartime. Trump soon after taking the Oval called him a 'dictator' who canceled elections, and even long before that called him the "world's greatest salesman" as he received hundreds of billions from the US and Western allies.
Meanwhile, fresh statements from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio express continued optimism on the potential for peace. He says "they're closer" to peace - in reference to Moscow and Kiev.
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/zlvat.jpeg?itok=J9mCy6da
"For a hundred days he has done efforts to bring about peace… Look, we’ve gotten closer. We – for the first time – we haven’t known this for three years – we kind of can see what it would take for Ukraine to stop. We can see what it would take for the Russians to stop," Rubio https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2025/05/secretary-of-state-marco-rubio-with-sean-hannity-of-fox-news/
.
He then noted, "They’re closer, but they’re still far apart. And it’s going to take a real breakthrough here very soon to make this possible… or I think the president is going to have to make a decision about how much more time we’re going to dedicate to this," he added.
It's been widely reported that during Zelensky's impromptu 15-meeting with President Trump on the sidelines of the pope's funeral last weekend he was able to ease the pressure on Kiev coming from Trump.
"Zelensky's advisers were divided about whether he should even risk the tête-à-tête after the disaster in the Oval Office," https://www.axios.com/2025/04/30/zelensky-trump-meeting-tougher-putin
reported days after the meeting. "But after it, Zelensky felt he'd managed to shift Trump's thinking about Putin for the first time, the sources say."
https://cms.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden
Fri, 05/02/2025 - 14:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/zelensky-relieved-trump-quietly-dropped-key-demand