Biden memoir calls Zelensky moody and stubborn, compares Putin to a teenager

Biden's view of Zelensky

Former US president Joe Biden describes Volodymyr Zelensky as moody and stubborn in his memoir, Promise Me, America, which is due out on Tuesday, 17 November. Excerpts released in advance and reported by The Wall Street Journal on Friday, 13 November, have Biden writing that Zelensky could be moody and stubborn in private conversations and was less grateful than he expected for US support. Biden also says that Zelensky's experience as an actor proved to be very good preparation for leading a country at war. The complaint about gratitude echoes the tense White House meeting of 28 February 2025, when Donald Trump told Zelensky he needed to be more grateful. According to the account of that meeting, Vice President JD Vance asked whether Zelensky had thanked the United States even once, and Zelensky replied that he had done so several times.

Putin and the request from Trump's team

Biden's account of Vladimir Putin focuses on the Russian leader's irritable tone during their meetings. He writes that Putin liked to sprawl in his chair, feigning indifference like a teenager. Biden also recounts that members of Trump's team asked him to sign a letter that would have allowed them to negotiate directly with Putin before Trump took office. Biden refused, fearing the step would give the incoming administration overly broad powers in talks with Russia and could lead to decisions on the war made without properly weighing Kyiv's position. According to the excerpts, he did not want to give a free hand for what he expected would be a kind of capitulation to Ukraine's detriment.

Warnings before the 2022 invasion

According to excerpts reported by The New York Times, Biden writes that US intelligence agencies recorded increasingly worrying Russian movements as early as 2021. He says it was initially hard to persuade European allies, NATO and Ukraine's own authorities that Putin was preparing an invasion of the whole country. Biden also reports that Russian authorities planned a coup in Kyiv and a propaganda film meant to create a pretext for the armed invasion. Early in the war, Biden doubted whether Zelensky had enough experience and staying power to survive a full-scale conflict, but he later credited Zelensky's leadership. The full-scale invasion began in February 2022, and the book's account of 2021 covers the months before it.

The memoir and its author

Promise Me, America is due out on Tuesday, 17 November 2026. Biden was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025, nominated by the Democratic Party. He had earlier served as vice president and as a senator. Rzeczpospolita recalls that in March 2022 Biden imposed sanctions on Russia and provided aid to Ukraine. Trump won the presidential election in November 2024, and the transition period that followed is when the request for the letter arose.