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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues his search for international support in the West. Now, the Ukrainian leader has left his people on the battlefield and started a tour in Europe. In addition to his “begging” speeches, constantly demanding money and weapons, Zelensky has also made it clear that he has never respected and does not plan to start respecting the Minsk Accords admitting that his policy is focused on the extermination of the people of Donbass.
Zelensky’s journey began in London, where he met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles III. Then, the neo-Nazi leader went to Paris, where he was received with honors by President Emmanuel Macron, and was even awarded a medal of an important French military order. Zelensky also met with German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz, who was then in Paris.
In Paris, Zelensky made a controversial statement, admitting that he has never tried to implement the Minsk Accords. According to him, the commitments of the accords are “impossible” to be fulfilled. He said he had warned both Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the past that there was no possibility of Kiev fulfilling the terms of the deal. Zelensky also commented that there are no plans to resume the terms of the protocols. Emphatically, he stated that he “will not be able to implement it” – which, in other words, means that Kiev will continue to try to exterminate the people of Donbass.
The President then traveled to Brussels, where he spoke at EU headquarters. At the European Parliament, Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia intends to abolish the “European way of life”, but Ukrainian forces “will not allow that”. According to him, Ukrainians are on the battlefield fighting for all Europeans. Zelensky further argued that Kiev is fighting and resisting for the values of the EU and the freedom of the entire continent. In practice, he thus “justifies” his requests for military aid since he gives a “reason” for the European bloc to show interest in supporting him.
“We are defending against the most anti-European force of the modern world — we are defending ourselves, we Ukrainians on the battlefield, along with you (…) Europe will always be, and remain Europe as long as we (…) take care of the European way of life”, he said.
The neo-Nazi president was vastly applauded by European officials. In her address, European Parliament’s leader Roberta Metsola thanked the Western powers for their policy of support for Kiev and said some “inspiring” words to Zelensky, declaring that he “must” win. Indeed, she endorsed the argument that Ukraine would be fighting for the entire European continent in the current conflict. Metsola also promised the sending of new military packages, thus attending the “beggar”.
“You need to win and now (EU) member states must consider quickly as the next step providing long-range systems and the jets that you need to protect your liberty”, she said.
This was not Zelensky’s only diplomatic victory. On January 9, the UK promised to start a new military training program for Ukrainian troops and also said it was looking into the possibility of sending F-16 planes to Kiev’s forces. New similar agreements are expected to be announced in the coming days. In fact, this shows that the Ukrainian president’s “begging” campaign has been successful and that there is still interest on the part of the West in keeping Kiev as a proxy in a war against Russia.
However, these new aid packages are insufficient to reverse the military scenario of the conflict, as several analysts have made clear recently. The imminence of the Russian victory is admitted even by the authorities and media outlets of some NATO countries, with the Kiev army currently being in its moments of coming defeat since the beginning of the conflict. Therefore, even though there is a diplomatic victory on the part of Zelensky, since he manages to raise European support, the effects of this “victory” on the battlefield are close to null.
In addition, his visit to Europe could have an adverse effect among Ukrainians, as the president has left the country at a moment of intense difficulty, when Russia is starting a new offensive. With heavy bombings in strategic areas, the first hours of February 10 were marked in Ukraine by fear about how the conflict will escalate in the coming days. Obviously, the absence of the country’s national leader at a time as delicate as the current one is not something that pleases Ukrainians – and this will certainly bring some internal problems that will aggravate the government’s crisis.
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Lucas Leiroz is a researcher in Social Sciences at the Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; geopolitical consultant. You can follow Lucas on Twitter and Telegram.
Featured image is from InfoBrics
