Challenges for the Foreign Policy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Abstract

The article refers to the challenges for the foreign policy of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, which arose as a result of the emergence of negative international trends, the bad policy of President Petro Poroshenko. The latter significantly complicated the implementation of Ukraine’s interests in the international arena for the new head of state and led to the emergence of a number of destructive internal trends. The author notes that the European international order is now destroyed, and international institutions have lost their effectiveness and capacity. Reliance on international security structures does not make it possible to ensure national security and defence of Ukraine, and reliance solely on political and diplomatic means for resolving foreign policy problems becomes meaningless. It is also noted that among the reasons for the loss of Ukraine’s subjectivity is the lack of strategic thinking among the ruling kleptocratic elite. During the five years of war with Russia, the government has not proposed any effective strategy of behaviour in this war. In addition, the author argues that in order to overcome the existing challenges to President Zelenskyi during his term of office, it is necessary to resolve the issue of overthrowing the oligarchic-kleptocratic regime and replacing it with a democratic political system, destroying total corruption, bringing a new national elite to power, carrying out radical political reforms aimed at strengthening the Ukrainian state, strengthening the country’s defence capability, establishing national values in the public life of Ukrainians, and building an effective and competitive model of the economy, improving social standards of life. It is noted that only if the tasks listed in the article are fulfilled, one can count on an optimistic scenario for the development of Ukraine and the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Keywords: President of Ukraine, kleptocratic regime, international political system, Ukrainian statehood.