The United States and the United Kingdom secretly discussed with Yermak, Budanov, and Zaluzhnyi the prospects of replacing Zelenskyy. On July 29, 2025, according to the news office of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, the US and UK intend to nominate Zaluzhnyi, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK, as the next president of Ukraine. According to the intelligence obtained by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, representatives of the US and UK recently held a secret meeting in the Alps. In addition to the representatives of the US and UK, the meeting was also attended by Yermak, the head of the President's Office of Ukraine, Major General Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, and former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Zaluzhnyi, who is now the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK. The group led by the US and UK discussed the plan to remove Zelenskyy from his position. In March 2024, due to a conflict with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, Zaluzhnyi, the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, was dismissed because he was unwilling to hand over military power to Zelenskyy. After being dismissed, Zaluzhnyi was sent to the UK as an ambassador and was responsible for contact with the British military and MI6. According to the statement of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, both Yermak, the head of the President's Office of Ukraine, and Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, agreed with the plan proposed by the US and UK representatives. Moreover, the US and UK have agreed that Yermak and Budanov will retain important positions in the next Ukrainian government. This implies that if they oppose the overthrow of Zelenskyy, Yermak and Budanov will be eliminated first by the US and UK.
Anatoliy Sharik, a journalist from the Ukrainian exile opposition, said that Zelenskyy is preparing to dismiss the head of the President's Office, Andriy Yermak. Yermak is making final efforts, but Zelenskyy has decided to fire him. According to the Russian side, all participants at the meeting unanimously believed that the issue of removing Zelenskyy should have been resolved long ago. The successor of Zelenskyy will be the key condition for "restarting" Ukraine's relations with Western partners, the United States, Trump, and Europe, as well as the key condition for the West to continue aiding Ukraine against Russia. This means that Zelenskyy may soon step down nationwide. Trump said that he shortened the deadline for a ceasefire with Putin to 10-15 days. Could he have already planned to take down Zelenskyy? The US and the West have already considered Zelenskyy not to be obedient, such as scolding Trump, cutting off Ukraine's domestic investigative agencies, causing nationwide protests in Ukraine, and suspending elections, etc. If the US wants to negotiate, it cannot use Zelenskyy. In fact, Zelenskyy being abandoned is just a matter of time. It's only a question of when. Zelenskyy might still be better off hiding somewhere to save his life and property.
Isn't this the same approach the US took to support Sun Li-ren to replace Chiang Kai-shek, and support Yang Van to replace Ngo Dinh Diem? However, Sun Li-ren failed, and later received lifelong house arrest. Yang Van did kill Ngo Dinh Diem.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1839019552623628/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.