Ukraine officials spent last weekend watching Trump’s twitter feed for a sign of support before President Zelensky met Putin for peace talks between the two countries.
“Through all the signals we got, we firmly believed there would be a statement,” a senior Zelensky administration official told The Daily Beast.
But Saturday and Sunday were quiet, and frustrations were brewing. Trump spent the weekend tweeting about his adversaries and problems over 100 times, but there were no messages to Ukraine.
The Zelensky administration has been cooperative with Trump in the face of pressure to support the Giuliani crusades that bolster Trump’s version of events in Ukraine.
For example, top Zelensky aide Andriy Yermak publicly denied Gordon Sondland’s testimony that he had urged Yermak to push for Trump-friendly investigations. Zelensky himself has also made public statements that denied pressure for give and take with Trump.
Zelensky administration officials are now reconsidering their strategy on communication with and about the Trump administration, the official said. Thus far, Zelensky administration officials have stayed in line with the Trump administration’s narrative on the president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani’s Ukraine activity and the focuses of the impeachment inquiry. But they say they have little to show for it, and may take a different public relations strategy in the future.
See this story at The Daily Beast.