Ukrainian official says false stories from members of Trump’s inner circle threatened relations with Washington
- Speaking to US media for the first time a top aide to the Ukrainian president said says he tried to change US officials’ decision to suspend a military aid package to Ukraine
False accounts pedalled by members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle threatened to poison US-Ukrainian relations this year and gave Trump a cover for suspending military aid, a top adviser to Ukraine’s president said in his first interview with a US news outlet.
“The fact is that some American politicians were not informed in the right degree about what is going on here,” Andriy Yermak said Saturday in an interview with The Los Angeles Times.
“This is both our problem and their problem,” said Yermak, who is a top adviser and long-time friend of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Clearly, over the years,” he added, “President Trump had developed a negative impression of Ukraine, which was not what we wanted.”
Yermak said he spent weeks this summer attempting to change US officials’ decision to suspend a military aid package to Ukraine and was dismayed that the country had been dragged into Washington’s political fights and Trump’s possible impeachment.
Yermak chose his words carefully to avoid overt criticism of Trump advisers. But he clearly communicated a sense of betrayal and a hope that damage to Ukraine, which has depended on US and European help against Russia, would be temporary.