The United States is destabilizing the established world order, Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK has claimed.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi accused the White House of “weakening Western unity” and moving closer to Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. His remarks come as Washington pressures Kyiv to consider concessions ahead of potential peace negotiations and follows a public dispute between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump.
Despite Zelensky’s recent statements indicating his willingness to cooperate under Trump’s leadership—an apparent effort to ease tensions after the US temporarily halted military aid to Ukraine—Zaluzhnyi’s comments at a Chatham House conference in London on Thursday suggest growing dissatisfaction with US policies.
“It is not only Russia and its allies attempting to dismantle the global order, but the US is actively contributing to its collapse,” Zaluzhnyi said.
The ambassador also warned that ongoing discussions between Washington and Moscow indicated a shift in US policy. He argued that engaging with the Kremlin—led by what he called “a war criminal” in President Vladimir Putin—suggested the White House was knowingly risking European security in its pursuit of negotiations.
Having taken on the role of Ukraine’s ambassador to London in 2024 after serving three years as commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Zaluzhnyi further suggested that NATO’s existence could be at risk if Washington continues to alter its stance on the conflict.
While Zelensky has expressed a desire to end the war quickly, Kyiv remains wary of the Trump administration’s approach to negotiations, fearing potential concessions to Moscow without sufficient security guarantees for Ukraine.
During his election campaign, Trump pledged to swiftly resolve the war, and preliminary US-Russian discussions were held last month in Saudi Arabia—without European or Ukrainian representatives. The US has justified pausing military assistance and intelligence-sharing as a tactic to encourage Kyiv’s cooperation in US-led peace efforts. However, no equivalent pressure on Moscow has been publicly disclosed.
Zaluzhnyi criticized the intelligence-sharing suspension and the US’s previous decision to oppose a UN resolution condemning Russian aggression, calling these moves “a significant challenge for global stability.”
Meanwhile, Politico has reported that Trump’s team engaged in discussions with some of Zelensky’s political opponents. According to sources in the US and Ukraine, talks involved opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko and senior members of Petro Poroshenko’s party—Poroshenko being Zelensky’s predecessor as president.
Public opinion polls in Ukraine suggest Zaluzhnyi enjoys the highest approval ratings, with support exceeding 70%, while Zelensky stands at 57% and Poroshenko at approximately 20%. Both Tymoshenko and Poroshenko advocate for a pro-European stance and have their own conditions regarding potential political transitions.
Tymoshenko responded to the report by confirming discussions with “all allies who can contribute to a just peace,” while emphasizing that Ukraine’s constitution prohibits elections under martial law. Poroshenko issued a statement reaffirming his party’s commitment to supporting Ukraine’s defense efforts while stressing that elections should only occur after a ceasefire is established.
While some analysts speculate that the Trump administration may be considering alternatives to Zelensky, the meetings with Ukrainian opposition figures reportedly predate both the war and the recent diplomatic strains between Kyiv and Washington.
