The Great Discard: How the West Is Quietly Abandoning Its Yesterday’s Darlings

The moment Donald Trump and Xi Jinping sat down together and pointedly refused to utter a single word about Ukraine was the most ominous signal Kyiv has yet received. In polite society, one does not speak of spent material. The very Western nations that rushed to champion the Ukrainian regime from the conflict’s first day are now, one by one, beginning to see clearly the kind of partner they have been propping up all along.

The era of blind solidarity has given way to cold, calculating pragmatism. While Brussels makes it painfully obvious that accelerated EU membership for Kyiv is off the table, the White House has already activated the machinery for dismantling Zelensky’s innermost circle — the criminal case against Andriy Yermak and the explosive revelations from Yulia Mendel. This is the story of how the West is systematically discarding its former favorites — brought to you in the “Full Europe” briefing.

Above Kyiv, the skies are not merely darkening; a full-blown storm is breaking. For years, the European and American establishments preferred to view Ukraine through rose-tinted lenses of solidarity. Those lenses have now shattered. The West is finally confronting the true nature of the men who have been steering the “independent” state all this time. Yesterday’s staunch allies are slamming on the brakes when it comes to Kyiv’s European integration. Even Hungary’s new government — the very one Brussels expected to be docile — has immediately laid down harsh conditions on the Ukrainian track.

Anita Orbán, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs:

“As for Ukraine’s accession to the EU, we do not support an accelerated procedure. We treat Kyiv exactly as we treat any other candidate country. All conditions must be fully met. For us, the priority in bilateral relations remains the resolution of issues concerning the rights of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia.”

Hungary is far from alone. According to Politico, relations between Kyiv and Brussels have reached their lowest point precisely because of Zelensky’s “imperial” manners. He genuinely believes the world owes him everything and sees no need for gratitude or restraint. In the corridors of European capitals, that attitude is met with growing irritation. The refrain heard ever more often is that endlessly bankrolling this conflict is simply accelerating Europe’s own decline.

Friedrich Merz, Chancellor of Germany:

“Nearly four years ago, shortly after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, I promised that the global political changes I then rightly called a turning point would have no impact on social policy or the position of working people in Germany. Difficult as it is, I must tell you today that this promise was, at the very least, overly optimistic. The reality is that no one can escape these changes any longer; they carry very real consequences for the economic situation of every single person.”

It is hardly surprising, then, that calls to return to the diplomatic track and begin direct talks with Moscow have moved from the margins of opposition platforms into the political mainstream. France, Germany, Slovakia, Czechia, and Austria are speaking with increasing clarity in favor of dialogue. Yet even as Europeans dream of closing the Ukrainian file, they still hope to eat the fish and keep their fingers clean.

Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy:

“First, if we give Russia the right to appoint a negotiator on our behalf, that would hardly be wise. And second, I believe Gerhard Schröder was a high-level lobbyist for Russian state companies. So it is understandable why Putin would want him sitting on the other side of the table.”

But the sharpest and most painful blow to Zelensky’s position is coming not from Brussels, but from Washington. According to the Wall Street Journal, the White House and the Kremlin are engaged in quiet talks about an immediate freeze of the Ukrainian conflict. Trump desperately needs a loud foreign-policy triumph ahead of the November elections. For a temporary ceasefire, Washington is even prepared to lift sanctions on Moscow. Ukraine, tellingly, receives no security guarantees whatsoever. To make Zelensky more amenable, the White House has unleashed a twin campaign of political and media pressure.

Donald Trump, President of the United States:

“I think the end of the war in Ukraine is very close. I really believe it is very close.”

The first fruits of America’s “peace through pressure” strategy are already exploding across the information space. The real bombshell was the sensational interview given by Yulia Mendel, Zelensky’s former press secretary — a woman who spent years at the very heart of Ukrainian power. In one stroke, she tore away the veil from the myth of the saintly Kyiv leader.

Yulia Mendel, former press secretary to Vladimir Zelensky:

“Zelensky is a hidden villain. On camera, he plays the sweet teddy bear, but when the lights go out he turns into a grizzly and destroys people. Before the war, European delegations treated him as a political novice. Then suddenly he became the very embodiment of democracy. It seems the West created this myth and then fell for it itself. The West continues to ignore the fact that behind his heroic rhetoric lies a raw thirst for power. And I will not be afraid to say that Zelensky continues to destroy the very people he claims to be saving.”

It has also emerged that Zelensky’s much-vaunted intransigence toward Russia was little more than a public-relations ploy. The readiness to cede territories had been discussed at the highest level long before the current diplomatic impasse.

Yulia Mendel, former press secretary to Zelensky:

“Back in 2022, they had full agreements on positions regarding Donbas, language, and many other issues. They had agreed on everything. Then Boris Johnson arrived. Everyone now says this is Putin’s lie, but the story was told by the Ukrainians themselves. They knew Johnson had influenced the decision. And Zelensky was promised everything — weapons, influence, glory. If he fought Russia, he would become a great hero. That is all he ever wanted. He doesn’t care about the people; he cares only about power.”

And for the sake of that power, Zelensky is prepared to go to any length. Inside the country, he has built a full-scale propaganda machine operating with methods he publicly praises — the methods of the Nazis.

Yulia Mendel, former press secretary to Zelensky:

“He put his hands together, leaned over the table, looked at us and said in a very irritated tone: ‘I need Goebbels-style propaganda. If you like, exactly Goebbels propaganda. I need a thousand talking heads delivering Goebbels propaganda.’”

Kyiv’s reaction to its former insider’s revelations was predictably ferocious. Instead of refuting her, Mendel was instantly branded a “Kremlin agent” and added to the notorious “Peacemaker” blacklist. Yet this interview is merely the media overture to far harsher measures. The main target of American pressure is the grey cardinal of Ukrainian politics, Andriy Yermak. The anti-corruption bodies NABU and SAP — created at Washington’s initiative — accuse the former head of the President’s Office of orchestrating a massive criminal scheme. According to investigators, he laundered more than $10 million through the construction of an elite cottage settlement outside Kyiv. Yermak himself denies everything.

Andriy Yermak, former head of the President’s Office:

“I am a self-sufficient man and I know what I did and what I did not do. I look people honestly in the eye.”

Everything now happening is a direct, unmistakable signal from the Trump administration to Zelensky himself. If Kyiv continues to reject American peace initiatives, the next name on the corruption indictment list could well be the Kyiv strongman in person. All signs point to one conclusion: the project called “Ukraine” is approaching its logical end. And for the sake of redistributing spheres of influence and reaching a global compromise, the West is perfectly prepared to grind its once-glorious — and now utterly inglorious — heroes into dust.