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As journalists filtered out of the presidential administration in central Kyiv on Wednesday afternoon after a 30-minute press conference with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the general consensus was that he had not said anything that would immediately make for a dramatic headline.
That, it seems, was the point. Eager to show the White House that Ukraine is onboard for negotiations and not an obstacle to Donald Trump’s desire to bring peace, Zelenskyy seems to be trying to erase the memories of the nightmare meeting in the White House two weeks ago.
Then, he rose to the bait of the US vice-president, JD Vance, and ended up in an argument with him and Trump. Now, the Ukrainian president is making a concerted effort to retain an air of diplomatic zen.
Instead of issuing demands, he spoke calmly about a “very positive meeting” between US and Ukrainian delegations in Saudi Arabia earlier this week, and said the details would come later. “We will talk about security guarantees in more detail if the 30 days ceasefire goes ahead,” he said.
For three years of war, Zelenskyy’s natural ability to communicate – through the media and his nightly videos – and his personal charm when in the room with other world leaders, has largely been an asset. In the White House, though, it became very clear that when dealing with Trump and his entourage, a change of strategy was required.
Over the past two weeks, Britain and France have been working with the Ukrainians on how to best calibrate messages for the volatile new US administration. Part of the advice has been that Zelenskyy should talk less – every provocative headline risks inflaming the thin-skinned Trump.
On Wednesday, his pauses for careful thought before answering questions were noticeable. Referring to the talks in Saudi Arabia, he said there were “a lot of details that we don’t want to talk about now”.
Asked by the Guardian what effect the pause in US intelligence sharing had had on Ukrainian military operations, and whether it had led to any specific incidents or losses for Kyiv, he said: “One day I’ll tell you, but I can’t answer that now”.
One US television correspondent tried to goad him, twice, into repeating an earlier claim that Trump was living in a Russian disinformation bubble. Zelenskyy smiled faintly, paused and gave a banal politician’s answer, that he always likes it when foreign partners visit Ukraine and can see the situation on the ground for themselves. He hopes that his American partners will visit more often.
It was easy to see a disguised barb directed at Vance, who tried to lecture Zelenskyy about Ukrainian battlefield realities and then said that he did not need to come on a “propaganda tour” to Ukraine because he had seen stories online. Back then, Zelenskyy responded with understandable irritation. This time, the criticism was oblique enough not to make a quotable soundbite.
The last thing Ukraine needs now is a slew of “Zelenskyy attacks Trump and Vance” headlines, which could prompt a new bout of mudslinging from the White House. Last month Trump called him a “moderately successful comedian” and a “dictator”, and claimed he had a 4% approval rating in Ukraine.
“One tweet can change everything, especially for the people who are fighting,” Zelenskyy said, by way of explanation for his somewhat evasive answers.
Trump’s unpredictability means there are no guarantees that Ukraine’s new approach will be enough to placate Trump and bring back meaningful US support for Kyiv. But there are signs that it is helping. Already, the US has reinstated intelligence sharing, and some of the rhetoric appears to be changing.
Lindsey Graham, a pro-Trump senator who has also been pro-Ukraine, laid into the Ukrainian president after the White House meeting. “I don’t know if we can ever do business with Zelenskyy again. I think most Americans saw a guy they would not want to go into business with,” he said then.
On Wednesday, he was singing a very different tune, promising to demand “bone-breaking sanctions and tariffs” on Russia before the end of the week to push Moscow towards a deal. “Zelenskyy has passed the test of wanting peace,” he wrote on X.
