Political expert and Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman Oleksandr Musiienko has assessed whether relations between Ukraine and the United States will really improve after the congressional elections, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested, Politeka reports.
He discussed the issue in his video blog.
According to Musiienko, the Ukrainian president suggested that the current situation represents the final stages of a struggle and that things could become calmer for Ukraine after the US midterm congressional elections on November 3. In other words, he explained, Ukraine is currently going all in and continuing to resist Russian aggression, while the United States is taking a more favorable stance toward Russia. This creates an incentive to wait until after the elections, but the strategy still carries risks.
“Why? Well, because we are counting on Trump becoming weaker after the midterm elections, and it could even come to impeachment. At least, the US president himself has warned about this, saying that if the Democrats win the elections, it will mean impeachment for him. That is how he sees it. So we will have to wait and see. The situation is evolving, but a different scenario is also possible,” Oleksandr Musiienko explained.
According to the expert, it is important to remember that decisions on intelligence sharing and weapons supplies through the PURL mechanism are made by the White House administration. This means that even if Republicans lose the elections, much will still depend on Trump and his team.
“The only thing is that Congress might put pressure on the US administration, demanding explanations and urging it not to engage in this kind of contact with Russia, and so on. That is possible. But Trump will retain his leverage unless impeachment happens. Perhaps that is what we are counting on,” Oleksandr Musiienko concluded.
