- Zelenskyy "bombed" his first Oval Office meeting with Joe Biden, according to a new book.
- Ukraine's president's "absurd analysis" of NATO "pissed Biden off," Franklin Foer writes.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy "bombed" his first Oval Office meeting with US President Joe Biden, according to a highly-anticipated new book.
"The Last Politician: Inside Joe Biden's White House and the Struggle for America's Future" by Franklin Foer will be published in the US next week and is a source of anxiety for the White House, Politico reports.
The Guardian, which obtained an advance copy, reports that the book describes a botched early interaction between Zelenskyy and Biden.
Although Foer does not cite sources or use direct quotes in his analysis of that first meeting, Penguin Random House, the book's publisher, says Foer had "unparalleled access to the tight inner circle of advisers who have surrounded Biden for decades."
Zelenskyy and Biden's first Oval Office meeting took place in September 2021, two years after Zelenskyy's election and six months before Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president had long sought a White House meeting amid mounting tensions with Russia. Donald Trump, who was still US President when Zelenskyy started his term, rejected a meeting with the Ukrainian president because he refused to help him uncover information about Trump's rivals — a futile quest that ultimately led to Trump's first impeachment.
Foer says Zelenskyy harbored "lingering resentments from the episode" and "at least subconsciously seemed to blame" Biden when he succeeded Trump, "for the humiliation he suffered, for the political awkwardness he endured."
Publically, Biden and Zelenskyy declared mutual respect and policy aims, but behind the scenes, Foer claims Zelenskyy "seemed oblivious to Biden's doubts" and "almost wilfully unaware of Biden's moral code."
Biden expected gratitude for US support, Foer writes. Instead, Zelenskyy "crammed his conversations with a long list of demands," including NATO membership.
The request to join NATO was followed by Zelenskyy commenting, it is alleged, that NATO was a "historic relic, with waning significance" and that France and Germany were going to exit the Alliance. Foer writes that this "absurd" analysis "pissed Biden off."
"Even Zelenskyy's most ardent sympathizers in the [Biden] administration agreed that he had bombed," Foer writes of the encounter.
Zelenskyy and Biden have forged a powerful wartime partnership
The two world leaders have come a long way, with Biden continually showing solidarity with Ukraine. Zelenskyy and Biden's wartime partnership has become crucial to the international world order, the New York Times writes.
From Biden's unannounced Kyiv visit to billions of dollars mobilized for military and other aid to Ukraine, the leaders' dynamic is more convivial than it once was, according to Foer's telling of their first Oval Office meeting.