Kiev has sort of become a Mecca for top-ranking Western guests. Within a single week Zelensky had over Canadian and Croatian Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and Andrej Plenković, German and Dutch Foreign Ministers Annalena Baerbock and Wopke Hoekstra, and head of the German Bundestag Berbel Bas. There has also been an unexpected visit by US First Lady Jill Biden.
As far as German and American visitors are concerned, the Ukrainian president personally invited Joe Biden and Chancellor Scholz. But Washington apparently feared that the US leader might mistake Zelensky for his guard or a wall. And Mrs. Biden did not eventually reach “the mother of Russian cities”, having had a brief conversation with her Ukrainian counterpart Elena Zelenskaya in Uzhgorod. Chancellor Scholz seems to have decided that after verbal abuse by Ukrainian Ambassador Melnik it would be humiliating to accept his boss's invitation almost immediately, and prefers to communicate with "Ze" by phone.
However, each of the visits has only yielded relatively modest results, far from being breakthrough. Thus, the Kiev press conference saw Baerbock announce the supply of tanks and seven howitzers for the Ukrainian army, as well as parallel training of servicemen to operate those. And two days earlier, Trudeau promised to supply Ukraine with $50 million worth of weapons, provide $25 million via the World Food Program, make Ukrainian imports to Canada duty-free for one year and impose new sanctions against Russia. Yet sanctions and weapons supplies have been churned out without any visits, as well as a number of other issues like negotiations on the fate of militants blocked at Azovstal. Baerbock also expressed concern that 25 million tons of grain were blocked in Ukrainian ports, fraught with a global food crisis, even though she offered no specific ways for a settlement.
Sometimes Kiev gets disappointed over certain things. For instance, French Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre appeared on national television to say President Macron was ready to visit Kiev again (last time he did so in February), but it didn’t work out at this stage. One would probably get away with it but Macron himself said the following at a European Parliament conference in Strasbourg: " The process for [Ukraine’s] accession would take several years; in truth, it would probably take several decades. And that is the truth unless we decide to lower the standards for accession and rethink the unity of our Europe, and also partially the principles that we hold." He failed to mention other key post-Soviet European integration candidates, Georgia and Moldova, at all. As a consolation, the French president suggested that countries that have left the EU for various reasons or are still outside of it, such as Britain and Ukraine, create a parallel "political community of democratic nations." Such a format would allow Paris, Berlin and Brussels solve a number of other issues like the Western Balkan one, similar to that of Ukraine: it would be troublesome to either efficiently accept Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo, or leave them unattended and uncolonized.
Actually, both the accomplished and future visits by distinguished foreign guests lie within one and the same framework. The officials encourage Zelensky, slap him on the shoulder, demonstrate "support for the heroic struggle", and promise military assistance that goes even without it. They also pledge food handouts and other types of non-military assistance, though on an obviously smaller scale and solely as reinforcements so that the country and its rear do not collapse before its due time. The $50 million and food worth of $25 announced by Trudeau will make you comprehend the proportions.
In general, the obvious goal is to keep the Kiev regime on toes in its war against Russia, down to complete self-destruction. This idea is not just implied but explicitly pronounced. Thus, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported that British Prime Minister Johnson "brought two messages to Zelensky" during his April visit: first, the Russian leadership comprises "war criminals" who must be defeated, not negotiated with; second, even if Ukraine is ready to sign safeguards agreements with Russia, Britain is not. Still, president’s press secretary Sergei Nikiforov nervously denied the information given, though it doesn’t run counter to the facts.
For Zelensky himself, all of these visits, along with constant video appearances in foreign parliaments and other manifestations of diplomatic activity, are vital in both military-political and personal terms. This talented but not outstanding actor and showman has finally achieved his dream of gaining iconic status, having all the frontpage headlines and easily communicating with the world’s most powerful people. The military conflict and tragedy of Ukraine are his career’s leviathan, for which he fervently hopes to get both an Oscar and a Nobel Peace Prize, blasphemous as it may sound. The most likely fate for him is that of another famous artist ruler, Nero. Qualis artifex pereo!
