'Deep distrust': Will the US drop Zelenskyy?

Berlin newspaper 'Deep distrust': Will the US drop Zelenskyy? Michael Maier - 5 hrs ago | One of the most important US journalists, Tom Friedman from the New York Times (NYT), reveals in his current column in the NYT: The US government has massive problems with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyj. Friedman, who has excellent connections in the Democratic decision-making bodies and in the Washington apparatus, writes: “In private conversation, US officials are much more concerned about the leadership of Ukraine than they admit. There is deep distrust between the White House and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – far more than previously reported.” Calling Zelenskyy's recent personnel decisions "strange happenings," Friedman writes: "On July 17, Zelenskyy fired his country's attorney general and head of domestic intelligence -- the most significant upheaval to his administration since the Russian invasion in February. That would be like Biden firing Merrick Garland and Bill Burns on the same day.” Friedman doesn't understand the decision - and that seems to be the case for many in Washington as well. "I haven't seen any coverage that convincingly explains what it's all about," said the NYT best-selling author. His conclusion: "It seems that we don't want to look too closely under the covers in Kyiv for fear of corruption or scandals that we might discover - after investing so much there." The story does not appear to be a hint or mere conjecture by the columnist, though he buries the explosive information in a text about Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. Friedman announces, "More on the dangers of this another day." US intelligence officials had already complained in early June that they had not been adequately informed by Kyiv about what was happening in the country. "How much do we really know about how Ukraine is doing?" Beth Sanner, a former senior intelligence official, told the NYT at the time: "Can you find anyone who can tell you with confidence how many troops Ukraine has lost, how much equipment Ukraine lost?” Avril D. Haines, the director of National Intelligence (DNI), testified at a Senate hearing last month that "it is very difficult to say" how much additional arms aid Ukraine can absorb. A little later, NATO sounded the alarm and announced that some equipment was apparently not making its way to the front, but on the international black market. According to the Washington Post, political officials are getting restless. Republican Rep. Michael Waltz said that without more direct scrutiny, Congress' confidence in Ukraine's $40 billion arms and aid program would wane. "For the sake of transparency, we need to know where this stuff goes," he said. Tom Friedman believes that the war in Ukraine could still become a problem for US taxpayers - and that the Ukrainian president, hailed by many media as a hero of freedom, could become a problem. Friedman cites anonymous "senior" officials who believe the Russians could use "a small nuclear weapon against Ukraine." In any case, the war is anything but over, the situation is not stable and new "dangerous surprises" could arise every day.