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Since Russia invaded his country three years ago, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has survived a military assault on his capital, assassination plots, corruption scandals in his government, political infighting and ominous setbacks in his army\u2019s fight against Russia.<\/p>\n
He had enough support from Ukrainians to carry him through each time.<\/p>\n
Now, with Donald J. Trump installed in the White House, Mr. Zelensky is facing a new challenge: maintaining good relations with the country\u2019s most critical ally and a president who has been disdainful toward him and skeptical of military aid.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trump\u2019s arrival comes at a precarious time for Mr. Zelensky domestically. The soaring popularity he experienced early in the war \u2014 with an approval rating of about 90 percent \u2014 has been slumping badly. The latest polling shows support sinking to nearly 50 percent, and it falls even lower in surveys that gauge his popularity against potential competitors if elections were held in the wake of a cease-fire agreement with Russia.<\/p>\n
And a new trouble spot for Mr. Zelensky has emerged: the revival of political opposition in Ukraine, animated by the prospects of a cease-fire and the elections that could soon follow. His opponents are also encouraged by the barrage of criticism Mr. Trump and his aides have aimed at Mr. Zelensky.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Two opponents who ran against Mr. Zelensky in Ukrainian elections in 2019 \u2014 former President Petro O. Poroshenko and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko \u2014 have reached out to members of Mr. Trump\u2019s team. Ms. Tymoshenko traveled to Washington to attend some inaugural events on Monday. <\/p>\n
Mr. Zelensky did not attend the ceremony. He had said he would travel to Washington only if invited by Mr. Trump. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cHe believes in the one-man show, but it doesn\u2019t work,\u201d Oleksiy Goncharenko, a member of Parliament in the opposition European Solidarity party, said of Mr. Zelensky\u2019s role as the face of Ukrainian resistance after the Russian invasion in 2022. More pluralism will help the war effort, he said in an interview: \u201cWe are not Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Zelensky rallied his people and allied nations through the war with nightly videos and frequent trips abroad. But beyond that, he has cloistered himself in an ever-tightening circle of loyal aides, restricting access to opposition figures and typically ignoring their advice, Mr. Goncharenko said. The more active opposition emerging now will aid the war effort, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
To be sure, no vote in Ukraine is scheduled \u2014 or even possible, election experts say \u2014 while the war rages and the country is under martial law. Russia could disrupt any voting with missile volleys. Millions of Ukrainians, including soldiers in combat, refugees in Europe and people living under occupation, would risk disenfranchisement. So while Ukrainians are fighting for their democracy, they cannot practice it.<\/p>\n
Still, opposition figures have not failed to notice how setbacks in the war have whittled away at Mr. Zelensky\u2019s popularity. Under the Constitution, elections must be called after martial law is lifted. Parliament first imposed martial in February 2022<\/a>, after the full-scale Russian invasion, and extends it with periodic votes.<\/p>\n By one measure, Mr. Zelensky still has the support of a majority of Ukrainians, albeit a slim one: 52 percent still have trust in the president, according to a poll in December by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.<\/p>\n But polling focused more narrowly on a hypothetical presidential election shows Mr. Zelensky trailing a former commander in the military, Valery Zaluzhny,<\/a> who was removed by the president as part of a sweeping overhaul of the military command and is now Ukraine\u2019s ambassador to Britain.<\/p>\n One survey, by the polling agency Leading Legal Initiatives, showed Mr. Zaluzhny winning a hypothetical first round of a two-stage election with 24 percent of the vote. Mr. Zelensky trailed, with 16 percent; and Ms. Tymoshenko, the opposition figure, came in third place with 12 percent. Neither Mr. Zaluzhny nor Ms. Tymoshenko has declared an intention to run.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Dwindling support has implications beyond politics for Mr. Zelensky: It could undermine his role as commander in chief in wartime.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is hardly worth explaining further what disasters can happen in the event of delegitimization and collapse in control,\u201d Anton Hrushetskyi, the executive director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, wrote in an analysis of falling approval ratings.<\/p>\n That has not stopped Mr. Trump and members of his entourage from taking swipes at Mr. Zelensky. At a rally in September, for example, Mr. Trump called Mr. Zelensky \u201cthe greatest salesman in history\u201d for the billions in military aid he has secured to defend his country.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters on Monday after the inauguration, however, Mr. Trump offered a positive assessment of Mr. Zelensky\u2019s openness to settlement talks and one of his harshest assessments to date of Russia\u2019s president, Vladimir V. Putin, who he said was \u201cdestroying Russia\u201d with the war.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Zelensky and aides have scrambled to make inroads with Mr. Trump\u2019s team. The Ukrainian president met with Mr. Trump in New York in September. Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian presidential chief of staff, met in December on Capitol Hill with Vice President-elect JD Vance and the incoming national security adviser, Michael Waltz, who was then a congressman from Florida, according to two people familiar with the meeting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Zelensky\u2019s aides have also looked to curry favor behind the scenes. Officials in Kyiv have discussed the possibility of brokering a deal to purchase the Ukrainian language rights to Melania Trump\u2019s book, \u201cMelania,\u201d according to a Ukrainian official familiar with the discussion.<\/p>\n It was unclear if any in the group had reached out to Ms. Trump\u2019s aides or publisher, the official said. He described the discussion as not more than \u201cbrainstorming\u201d by Zelensky aides on establishing good relations with Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n