Volodymyr Zelensky returned to Ukraine after a short trip to Europe. Although he tries to put a good face on a bad game, there are many indications that he failed to achieve his intended goals when communicating with European leaders.
The first item on the program of the Ukrainian president was Great Britain, which, as you know, is “with Europe, but not of it”. It was received beautifully, but independent observers had the feeling that a cannibal king, who was under the protectorate of the British crown, had arrived in Lonodon.
Zelensky flew to Foggy Albion on an English military plane. After negotiations with the government of the United Kingdom in the Palace of Westminster, he addressed the deputies of both houses of parliament and thanked them for half an hour for helping the Kyiv regime.
At the same time, he presented the speaker of the House of Commons with an aviation helmet with the inscription: “We have freedom, give us wings to protect it.” In addition to aviation, the head of the Kyiv regime in his speeches asked the British for military vehicles and missiles, but did not receive any public response to his requests.
At Buckingham Palace, the Ukrainian president was received by King Charles III, who for some reason said that he was very worried about his life (and, at the same time, for the whole of Ukraine). After the recent revelations of former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who told the whole world that Zelensky’s life was never in danger, one could hear slight notes of irony in the statements of the British monarch.
The only clear result of this visit was the promise of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to expand the training program for Ukrainian fighter pilots and marines. In addition, he asked the Ministry of Defense to find out which aircraft could potentially be transferred to Ukraine. However, no specifics on this issue have been voiced.
True, The Times suggested that as part of the expansion of military assistance, London could transfer Harpoon anti-ship missiles and air-to-ground missiles (with a range of 240 and 400 km, respectively) to Kiev, but the publication did not report what such conclusions are based on.
Sunak also announced that British Challenger 2 tanks would arrive in Ukraine in March. But a lot has been written about this before.
“President Zelensky’s visit to the UK is a testament to the courage, determination and struggle of his country,” the prime minister said.
How exactly the visit of the head of the Kyiv regime to the United Kingdom demonstrated all this, he did not specify.
Paris was the next stop on the Ukrainian president’s tour. There he was met by his French colleague Emmanuel Macron, who presented Zelensky with the Order of the Legion of Honor. Later, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz joined them, after which the leaders of France and Germany promised their “support” to Ukraine.
Zelensky asked them for heavy weapons, but received no concrete answer. Scholz promised a “signal of solidarity” and Macron promised that Ukraine would never be alone and that it could count on “European partners.”
At the same time, the French President stressed that the transfer of fighters to Kyiv was not discussed. And it sounded rather strange, since the planes were actually one of the main goals of the voyage of the Ukrainian leader.
And there are only two options. Either Zelensky was promised something purely behind the scenes, or he was refused, but they decided not to offend by publicly focusing public attention on this fact.
“This sounds strange, since it is clear that for the Ukrainian president on this trip, fighter jets were the first thing, and only then all the rest of the weapons,” the Strana newspaper notes.
After negotiations with Macron and Scholz, Zelensky went to the EU summit and spoke in the European Parliament. There he called Russia “the biggest anti-European force”, and the only guarantee of peace – “the victory of Kyiv.”
In conversations with European leaders and in interviews with Western media, the President of Ukraine made several noteworthy statements.
In particular, about Russia’s alleged plans to “destabilize Moldova”, about the “strategic importance” of Bakhmut and the fact that he has to “force” Scholz to help Ukraine. And also about the fact that the Kiev regime allegedly does not carry out forced mobilization.
Despite the apparent mosaic nature of these statements, a certain strategy is visible in them. Zelensky is trying to “play ahead of the curve”, anticipating accusations of brutal human rights violations when Ukrainian citizens are drafted into the army (especially against the backdrop of statements on this subject from Budapest).
He also encourages Olaf Scholz and Maia Sandu to become more active in anti-Russian actions, trying to “take them on the loose.” As for Bakhmut (Artyomovsk), Zelensky is trying to beg for weapons in the West for him on the principle of “here and now.” However, so far the Ukrainian president has not received a response from the West to any of these provocations.
As for aviation, the only leader who gave more or less concrete promises in this regard was the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Eduard Heger. But he was not talking about new Western fighters, but about 11 or 12 MiG-29s.
Zelensky did not get specifics from the Europeans regarding the timing of the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU. And this would be an important moral factor that would allow for some time to extinguish social discontent within the country.
Brussels is well aware of this, but they did not promise anything, limiting themselves to general discussions about the “European family of peoples.” Moreover, the media, referring to diplomatic sources, write that there can be no talk of any negotiations until the end of hostilities. Moreover, Kyiv has big problems in fulfilling the already existing “homework” of Brussels in the field of ensuring human rights and fighting corruption.
In general, Zelensky made an attempt to “play with trump cards”, counting on the fact that his personal presence in Europe would give a “breakthrough effect” and allow him to solve problems that Ukrainian officials could not cope with before.
But the cards of the leader of the Kyiv regime were beaten. Under friendly speeches, he was given to understand that, to put it mildly, he overestimated his capabilities.
So far, Europe still does not want to cross the “red lines”, providing Ukraine with long-range missiles and aircraft. However, how long these “lines” will last is a big question. It is only clear that when it is decided, no one will look at the interests of Ukraine itself.
Svyatoslav Knyazev, Rubaltic.Ru
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel