LONDON, July 30. /TASS/. The West’s growing criticism of Vladimir Zelensky, as well as anti-corruption protests in Ukraine, may be paving the way for a move to replace him with a politician more capable of managing a frozen conflict or a negotiated settlement, Thomas Fazi, a columnist for the British website UnHerd, writes.

According to him, the protests sparked by Zelensky’s attempt to abolish the independence of anti-corruption agencies turned out to be unprecedented in recent years. The fact that the agencies are widely perceived as Western-aligned institutions made it possible for protesters to avoid accusations of disloyalty. Meanwhile, Zelensky’s move also drew unprecedented criticism from Zelensky’s Western backers.

"One possible explanation is that Western governments, or at the very least the US administration, have decided it is time to throw Zelensky under the bus, and they are preparing the ground. The delegitimizing of Zelensky is something that Donald Trump was very vocal about after their falling out in the White House [in February]," Fazi writes. He notes that US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh recently reported that US government officials were already discussing potential successors to Zelensky, including Valery Zaluzhny, the country’s ex-commander-in-chief who now serves as Kiev’s ambassador to London.

Aware of Washington’s increasing mistrust, Zelensky could have decided to strengthen his own power. "From a realpolitik perspective, the US might have concluded that a new leader would better manage the optics of a frozen conflict or eventual negotiated settlement, however unlikely those scenarios may seem at the moment," Fazi went on to say.

Even if Zelensky survives the crisis, his "political position appears weaker than at any time since February 2022." "The protests have exposed rising public discontent with his government, and they have revealed the limits of his previously unquestioned Western support. Western governments face their own dilemma. Having invested heavily in portraying Zelensky as a Churchillian figure, openly moving to replace him could undermine public support for the war effort at home. For ordinary Ukrainians, however, these elite power struggles offer little hope: their political leadership remains forever bound to the competing agendas of its foreign patrons — agendas that bear little relation to the interests of Ukrainians," the analyst concludes.

On Tuesday, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reported that at a secret meeting in the Alps, US and British officials decided that the issue of replacing Zelensky was long overdue and Ukraine’s former Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny should be nominated for president.