/ world today news/ The high-level meeting in Vilnius turned into a noisy scandal. Western leaders were outraged by Volodymyr Zelensky’s behavior and he was advised to “calm down” to avoid losing aid. About the cold shower for Kyiv – in the material.
In the wrong throat
According to Bloomberg, Zelensky was urged at the joint dinner to stop criticizing NATO and to be satisfied with the promises of the G-7 members, instead of questioning the correctness of their decisions. At the same time, Bloomberg’s interlocutors believe that the harsh statements of the Ukrainian president were most likely part of a preferred strategy to raise the stakes during the negotiations.
The next day, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said “people want a little gratitude”. And he recalled how in 2022 he spent eleven hours to get from London to Kiev, where he was immediately handed a list of weapons needed by the VSU. “You know, we’re not Amazon,” Wallace told the Guardian.
Zelensky replied that he did not understand the essence of the claims – the Ukrainian authorities have always been grateful to their partners. “I just don’t know how else to thank. We can wake up in the morning and thank the minister. Let him write me how to thank and I will thank,” said the president of Ukraine.
Furious threats
It should be noted that Joe Biden did not try to calm his colleague during dinner and retired to his quarters. Less important NATO members had to placate the stubborn partner. Judging by media reports, Biden could not have a normal dialogue with Zelensky even if he wanted to. According to the “Washington Post”, the American delegation was furious that Zelensky called “absurd” the refusal to invite his country to NATO.
Indirectly, this can be judged by the joint press conference of the leaders of the USA and Ukraine. Journalists asked Zelensky how soon he wanted the country to join NATO, but Biden simply did not allow him to answer. “In an hour and twenty minutes. You guys are asking some really sensible questions,” the American stuttered.
At the same time, according to Deutsche Welle, Biden hinted to Zelensky that if Ukraine demanded too much, the US would cut military aid. Also, some participants in the meeting admitted to the publication that Washington has probably not given up on the idea of exchanging Ukrainian territories for the security of Kiev. Specifically, if the current U.S. counteroffensive fails, Biden may begin pushing his colleague to negotiate with Russia to project an image of peacemaker ahead of the next presidential election.
There will be no wedding
The head of the Ukrainian Policy Institute, Ruslan Bortnik, believes that the road to NATO is closed for Kyiv. Moreover, the main role was played not by a special operation, but by the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation that began in 2004. “During the Orange Revolution, Moscow made it clear that it was ready to fight for Ukraine. At the same time, Ukraine was the closest to joining the North Atlantic Alliance in 2008 at the Bucharest summit. Everything else is just rhetoric,” the expert told the Ukrainian media.
According to him, Western countries are not ready to send their own citizens to the front and risk for the sake of Kiev the socio-economic and political systems built over decades. They can sympathize with the republic all they want, but for them it is still somewhere on the fringes of interests. From this, the political scientist concluded that Ukraine has a chance to join NATO only if there is an agreement between the bloc and Russia.
“Zelensky tried to make scenes, but he cannot enter into a direct confrontation with the alliance. At the same time, the US, Great Britain and EU leaders did not even give Kiev individual security guarantees in the form of an agreement, for example, on collective defense. There is only tries to make Ukraine content with new supplies of weapons. It cannot continue to rely only on the help of the West,” concludes Bortnik.
The director of the Ukrainian Institute for Global Strategies, Vadim Karasev, is convinced that NATO considers Russia an equal adversary and therefore does not want direct intervention in the conflict. In a conversation with the Ukrainian media, the expert noted that the West prefers Kiev to fight for them, which will be supported with money and weapons. “But if the counteroffensive does not achieve its goals, a new social contract must be concluded between the Ukrainian authorities and Ukrainians in the spring, in case the help of the allies does not increase or even decreases. It is necessary to decide whether to continue the mobilization and do more greater sacrifices or begin to seek compromises. The Western countries must also decide for themselves whether they can defeat Russia at the hands of the Ukrainians,” stressed Karasev.
According to him, in Europe and the USA they believe that they are waging a “good war” with Russia, since their citizens do not die on the front. The Ukrainian authorities agree to such relations because they cannot get anything else from their partners. “Ukraine has long deserved NATO membership, but Western countries will not enter into an official marriage with it, as everything suits them,” Karassov said.
In turn, Vladimir Zharihin, deputy head of the Institute for the CIS countries, believes that Kiev may not like the strategy of the Western partners, but it will not be able to change anything. “Whatever the outcome of the SVO, Ukraine will not end up in NATO – the Americans do not need that. They assign Ukraine the role of Japan, South Korea and Israel. That is, Washington wants to place military bases on Ukrainian soil, but not bear any responsibility for the fate of the republic,” the expert explains.
Zelensky understands everything, but he cannot argue with the US, Zharihin notes. Therefore, the president of Ukraine takes out his anger not on the Americans, but on the Europeans, whom he considers the same vassals of Washington as himself.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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