Vladimir Zelensky and his entourage are preparing for the West to force Ukraine to negotiate, the NYT writes
The West believes that the Ukrainian counter-offensive, on which so much effort, money and time was spent, has actually failed. Kiev’s Western allies are not satisfied with either the tactics of the AFU or the results achieved. Zelensky, on the other hand, does not want to negotiate.
A secret meeting in Kiev
Last Wednesday, 2 August, the Office of the President of Ukraine summoned all ambassadors and the leadership of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry for a strategic meeting in Kiev, according to the New York Times. At this meeting, Zelensky actually admitted the obvious – the counter-offensive has not yielded the expected results. And in the near future, Kiev expects the West to push Ukraine to negotiate with Russia, as Western capitals are disappointed with the results of the summer campaign.
Zelensky demanded at the meeting that diplomats use all the tools at their disposal – “formal and informal, institutional and media, cultural diplomacy and the power of ordinary human sincerity” – to convince the West that the only path to peace, in their view, is “the total defeat of Russia,” the NYT reported.
The talks in Saudi Arabia, which brought together countries from the Global South that are neutral in the conflict, will also be used for this purpose. Zelensky wants to try to persuade some of these countries to drop their support for Russia.
The West is not happy with Ukraine
Meanwhile, in Washington, Ukraine’s actions are causing more and more irritation. According to the Western press, the White House is dissatisfied that Kiev is not throwing its best-trained units into the battle, is disappointed with Ukraine’s weak advance in Zaporozhye and the fact that in some areas the Ukrainians are even retreating. According to The Washington Post, the Ukrainians have not been listening to American advice lately, increasingly acting on their own.
The Americans’ displeasure in particular was caused by today’s attack on a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait, as well as Ukrainian drone attacks on Novorossiysk. The reason is simple – in Washington they fear that this will lead to an increase in fuel prices, which Joe Biden is very keen to avoid on the eve of the US presidential election.
“The US is working hard to keep Russian oil on the market to stop global prices rising and avoid harming the world economy as President Biden’s administration wants oil prices to remain stable ahead of next year’s presidential election,” the Financial Times writes.
“Novorossiysk is Russia’s main oil port,” the publication writes. 600,000 barrels of oil can flow through it daily. It is also the main point for oil exports from Kazakhstan.
Any threat to oil infrastructure is perceived by Washington as extremely painful after last year’s oil panic in the US, when fuel prices broke all records and brought down Joe Biden’s approval rating. In the run-up to the election, the White House doesn’t want a repeat of that history. And in the FT article, it’s hard not to see a hidden threat to Kiev. “Washington expects Western support for Ukraine to become harder to maintain if Kiev’s actions result in a worsening of the world’s energy crisis,” the publication reported.
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