Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met his American counterpart in Washington on Wednesday (December 21st) before delivering a speech to Congress. A undoubtedly historic sequence that could constitute a real turning point?
Sometimes, at rare moments in history, reality transcends itself to confine itself to myth. This is undoubtedly the effect that the combatant president Volodymyr Zelensky was looking for, a former humorist mocked by Moscow and who accidentally ended up completely embodying the role of his life, his own role: a man who remains firmly standing facing the enemy without trying to hide his fragility and his deep exhaustion…
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Zelensky is Ukraine and Ukraine is Zelensky. Decided on in mid-December, this high-risk trip to Washington is a feat. The Ukrainian president had just left the Donbass, where artillery fire punctuated the few words said to the press, that he was taking the road to another front line, diplomatic this time in the greatest secrecy. The armored train from kyiv to Lviv near the Polish border, then an American military plane departing from Poland escorted by fighter planes over the Atlantic to reach the United States, a real rear base of the war in Ukraine.
A few hours later, this frail man descended the central aisle of the American Congress in full force under the ovations, certain parliamentarians just trying to touch him with an almost mystical reverence… ” Your money is not charity “, he recalled in hesitant English “ It is an investment in international security and democracy… For him, it’s victory or death, at a time when opinions are exhausted in the face of a three hundred day war. Back to the wall, Zelensky had no other choice than this new, immensely symbolic blow, which will weigh on the future of the conflict.
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Concretely, the Ukrainian president got what he wanted: new arms deliveries, guarantees, but is that enough?
The Ukrainian General Staff has been repeating it for many months, the key to the conflict lies in the acquisition of the Patriot missile system which will allow kyiv to protect its airspace and its infrastructures, the new target of the Kremlin which resorts to the terrible cold winter like a weapon of war, plunging the Ukrainian population into freezing darkness.
If the delivery of the American defense system is recorded, Zelensky wants more weapons, ammunition and means while a difficult vote is preparing at the beginning of the year in Washington for the massive granting of military aid of several tens of billions of dollars, which some elected Republicans want to question, the Ukrainian leader has also come so that support for the war effort does not become a partisan issue for the American ally.
This historic visit also coincided – and this is probably no coincidence – with a major communication operation by the Kremlin.
As one could imagine, nothing really new in Moscow… Vladimir Putin, right in his boots, spoke in front of hundreds of high-ranking soldiers, to announce new credits, reinforcement of personnel, weapons and nuclear potential, while the American military intelligence services fear a new offensive on kyiv next January or February via Belarus with a fresh reserve of 200,000 men.
But the most significant will remain this little reassuring exit from the Russian president accusing Washington of leading “ an indirect war against Russia “… To which the Americans responded by asserting that North Korea was arming Wagner’s militia, which was very present on the Ukrainian front… Probable next step for the Ukrainian president: the announcement of a visit to a capital European Union, Europe, kyiv’s second ally.