Leader: Trump dislikes Zelenskyi - but that doesn't explain his attacks on Ukraine

I am not a "big fan of" Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump declared this week. And again demanded that Ukraine's leaders be replaced. "He just wants to keep creating problems for the world."

For the first time since the White House ambush, Zelenskyy has bitten back in earnest, declaring that he feels "betrayed" by Trump.

During an interview in the Financial Times, Zelensky is asked how he will heal the relationship with Trump. His response? "We weren't the ones who ruined the relationship." Which is true.

What preceded Trump's latest attack on Ukraine's president, then, was a US deal with the Kremlin to buy Russian diesel, hoping to lower domestic fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections. Then the US demanded that Russia and Ukraine stop shelling the adversary's energy production. Ukraine listened. For three days and three nights, Ukraine did not fire at Russian oil production. For three days and three nights, Russia attacked critical energy infrastructure deep into Ukraine. Zelenskyy asked the US for defense missiles if this continued, but received none. Instead, the US appears to have stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine and temporarily restricted the country's access to the Starlink internet system.

It is no wonder that Zelenskyy feels betrayed.

It is no wonder that Zelenskyy feels betrayed.

Donald Trump harbors a widely known, and far-reaching, contempt for Ukraine and Zelenskyi. One might ask what the root of it is. But maybe it's about the fact that during his first term as president, in a phone conversation with Zelenskyj, he tried to fish for compromising material about Joe Biden - got nothing and it all ended in impeachment.

At the same time, it is clear that this is not only about Trump's cold feelings for Zelensky.

In the White House, he has had a picture framed where he walks side by side with Vladimir Putin.

Trump is not alone in harboring particularly warm feelings for the Russian despot. The world over so-called "nationalists" admire him. Despite Russia posing a threat to their own countries' national security. Germany's AFD, France's Marine Le Pen, Italy's Matteo Salvini, yes, these are some of them who glanced curiously at Moscow.

And it is not rooted in personal chemistry, but ideology and view of the world. Trump and other right-wing nationalists are appealed to by the strong leader who plays by his own rules at home, and who claims that his own country should hold the baton in his neighborhood.

We should be grateful that there are those who bite.

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