Newsweek magazine puts out shortlist of candidates who could unseat Zelensky

NEW YORK, October 12. /TASS/. Newsweek has put out a shortlist of candidates who could replace Vladimir Zelensky amid US President Donald Trump's calls for a change of power in Kiev.

According to Newsweek, the main contenders are former Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, now ambassador to the United Kingdom Valery Zaluzhny, former head of the General Staff Kirill Budanov, former Defense Minister Mikhail Fyodorov and former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko with Zaluzhny named as the most likely to unseat Zelensky if an election were to take place. According to a Rating Group survey, 64% of respondents trust Zaluzhny compared to 53% trusting Zelensky. Almost 23% of respondents would vote for Zelensky, while more than 20% for Zaluzhny.

Budanov's trust rating stands at about 53%, and Fyodorov's at 38%. 7.6% of respondents are ready to vote for Fyodorov in the first round, while 6.7% are ready to vote for Budanov.

Poroshenko, who served as the country's president in 2014-2019, remains an active opposition MP, according to the magazine. In 2025, Zelensky imposed sanctions against him, including asset freezes, on grounds related to national security.

Last week Trump said Ukraine has to hold elections, with The Wall Street Journal suggesting this showed how deep the schism in relations with Zelensky had gotten, almost as bad as last winter, when the two very publicly quarrelled in the Oval Office. The Financial Times quoted unnamed European officials as saying that the US presidential administration is threatening to stop the arms procurement program and the provision of intelligence information to Ukraine.

Axios quoted White House sources as saying that Trump is angry with Zelensky and expects Kiev to stop attacks on Russian refineries. Trump believes that the cost of fuel in the United States is rising because of these strikes, and is angry that Zelensky takes Washington's support for Kiev for granted.