Zelenskyy has asked Trump to come to Ukraine to see what Russia did to the country with his own eyes. With a $60 billion military aid bill stalled in Congress, his office has been wooing Republicans, trying to persuade them that helping Ukraine is in America’s national interest.
“I don’t believe anybody who represents the party of Ronald Reagan will abandon Ukraine,” Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s office, told POLITICO earlier this month.
Meanwhile, however, Ukrainians are working to be as self-sufficient as possible, ramping up domestic weapons production and attempting to diversify their sources of military aid.
While Zelenskyy has publicly fretted about the possibility of a Trump presidency, Yermak has sought to strike a more optimistic tone.
“I think that, first of all, the people who were on Trump’s team at that time are not there anymore,” he told POLITICO during an event in February. “He has a new team. Furthermore, there is bipartisan support for Ukraine, and we are constantly talking to representatives of both parties.”
Parnas, for his part, said he was pessimistic.
“Zelenskyy and Yermak know they are not only fighting Russia for their lives but also Republicans,” he said.
“If Trump loses, Ukraine is going to get all the money and weapons it needs. Russia will be done,” he added. “If Trump wins, things will be very bad.”
