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Nov 5 (Reuters) - Ukraine must adapt to the new realities of US politics to build dialogue and address its needs for more foreign aid and bolstered air defences to counter Russian attacks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview broadcast on Thursday.
Zelenskiy has made considerable effort to smooth over a volatile relationship with US President Donald Trump, particularly after a February 2025 Oval Office meeting during which he was accused of being ungrateful for Washington’s aid. US-led talks with Ukraine and Russia on resolving the conflict are scheduled to resume next week in Abu Dhabi.
Zelenskiy, attending an Ibero-American summit in Spain, told Ukrainian television channel TSN that Kyiv had to adapt to a changed US political landscape after voters in US midterm elections put Democrats in control of Congress.
“Ukraine has to move forward towards the new political infrastructure in the United States of America,” he said.
Given that Republicans have been the holdup to Ukraine getting more aid, the phrasing ‘must adapt’ makes it sound as if more Democrats at the helm is anything but good for Ukraine’s prospects. Other than isolationists and idiots at the extremes who have a simplistic notion of ‘world peace’ that involves ending all wars immediately regardless of the long-term consequences of maintaining current frontlines, countering Russia via aid to Ukraine is not a divisive policy measure.
Tbh I’m reading this as “we need help wherever we could find it, but we also need to not be so highly dependent on a single (unreliable) ally because it has very real, very material, strategic drawbacks for us”