Ukraine’s failing fightback will soon put Zelensky out of a job, says rival

VOLODYMYR Zelensky is failing as a war leader and will soon be on his way out of the job, claims his rival Vitali Klitschko.

The mayor of Kyiv and former heavyweight boxing world champion admitted Ukraine’s counter-offensive had stalled and president Mr Zelensky is now ‘paying for his mistakes’.

Mr Klitschko said he was not surprised Mr Zelensky’s popularity has fallen compared with that of the army and lashed out at him for ignoring warnings about the Russian invasion in February 2022.

He said: ‘People see who’s effective and who’s not. Zelensky is paying for mistakes he has made. People wonder why we weren’t better prepared for this war. Why Zelensky denied until the end it would come to this. We must support him... but at the end of this war, every politician will pay for his successes or failures.’

Brushing off suggestions he will run for president, Mr Klitschko told Swiss outlet 20 Minutes: ‘It would be stupid to think about. Today the only question is whether Ukraine continues to exist at all.’

In an interview with German outlet Der Spiegel, he warned of Ukraine becoming like Putin’s Russia, ‘where everything depends on the whim of one man’. Mr Zelensky has admitted the counter-offensive had not achieved ‘the desired results’.

Mr Klitschko’s words could be exploited by figures in the West calling for Ukraine to negotiate a ceasefire. Many US Republicans, including Donald Trump, have called for an immediate cessation to the conflict.

And one of Mr Trump’s former advisers last night warned he could pull the US out of Nato if he becomes president again.

John Bolton said the damage of a Trump second term ‘would be irreparable’.