FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
European leaders are also seeking and seeking to set up a phone call between the pair, during which the Ukrainian president would express regret for the way the meeting took place, but would not apologize.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky went dangerously off-script last week, thanks in large part to the urgings of US Vice President JD Vance.
In doing so, the Ukrainian leader left the White House empty-handed and U.S.-Ukraine relations soured, much to the delight of MAGA loyalists. Ukrainians, however, were shocked by the spectacle and remain deeply upset by what they see as Trump and Vance’s failure to understand that they are the wronged party who have suffered severely at the hands of a revanchist Russia, even enduring documented war crimes.
Advised by his American friends and advisers, as well as his powerful chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, Zelensky had been careful to avoid antagonizing America's thorny President Donald Trump since his reelection.
" Play along" was the advice, and considering the bad blood between Trump and Zelensky going back to 2019 - when the Ukrainian leader would not accept Trump's request for an investigation into the son of former US President Joe Biden, following this advice was crucial.
By Friday, the strategy was clear: the Ukrainian leader was to be seen as constructive, leaving Russian President Vladimir Putin to anger Trump by being defiant and the first to say "not yet."
Maintaining this stance was always going to be tricky, even though no one could have predicted how spectacular Zelensky's ouster would be.
The question is, can the damage be undone?
Here in Kiev, the surreal and stormy Oval Office brawl is largely blamed on Vance — a longtime critic of U.S. involvement in Ukraine. He is being accused of deliberately setting out to provoke Zelensky, perhaps to scuttle a deal that would allow the U.S. greater access to Ukraine’s minerals.
A Republican foreign policy expert, who spoke to POLITICO on condition of anonymity to speak freely, sees it the same way: Vance wanted to kill the minerals deal, acknowledging that it “would strengthen the pro-Ukrainian lobby in the administration. Zelensky just took the bait.”
However, the Republican expert also noted that the Ukrainian leader was guilty of not focusing solely on the agreement.
"Zelensky failed before Friday to recognize the importance of the minerals deal... It's important not because of the minerals - it's all about giving Trump a political victory ," he said.
White House officials have publicly insisted that there was no scheme to ambush Zelensky or disrupt the minerals deal. Quite the opposite. They argue that both Trump and Vance were frustrated by Zelensky questioning the point of negotiations with Putin and thought he was trying to derail U.S.-Russia talks — a point that Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized in an interview Sunday.
In the wake of the incident, there have been strong efforts to repair some of the damage and get Zelensky and Trump on the phone to try to salvage the relationship. European leaders are also seeking and seeking to set up a phone call between the pair, during which the Ukrainian president would express regret for the way the meeting unfolded but would not apologize.
“ The trip to Washington, Mr. Zelensky’s first since President Trump was sworn in, was always going to be a difficult mission. Yet there was still hope that all could go well, with prospects brightening after the previous trips by Emmanuel Macron of France and Keir Starmer of Britain. Surely, they had managed to pave the way. Diplomats assumed that his American host would be less prickly when President Zelensky made the same trip to Washington ,” wrote Jonathan Eyal of Chatham House.
And the fact that Trump told reporters he didn't remember describing Zelensky as a "dictator" was another hopeful sign.
However, there were concerns before Zelensky landed in Washington: First, the lingering fallout from an early February meeting between Zelensky and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seemed to be weighing on Trump, who publicly complained that Zelensky had disrespected Bessent by lecturing him about the futility of negotiations with Putin.
Furthermore, MAGA's political opponents have made waves with a hue and cry about the continued US involvement in Ukraine and want all aid to stop completely.
Speaking to a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Washington before sitting down with Trump and Vance, the Ukrainian leader had made it clear that he would pressure Trump to agree to security guarantees for a post-war Ukraine, but was warned by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, among others, to proceed with caution and avoid focusing on the dispute. In short, give Trump the win.
Yermak gjithashtu i kërkoi Zelensky-t të qëndrojë i fokusuar në marrëveshjen e mineraleve garancitë e sigurisë mund të pasojnë më vonë. Por i irrituar nga Vance, Zelensky u largua nga kursi, duke çuar në atë që ligjvënësi i opozitës ukrainase Oleksiy Goncharenko e përshkroi me një fjalë të thjeshtë: "katastrofë".
Duke parë ngjarjet që shpaloseshin nga larg, lideri i opozitës ruse, Mikhail Khodorkovsky u trondit gjithashtu: “Unë e kuptoj dhimbjen e Presidentit Zelenskyt – zhgënjimin e tij për të qenë i pafuqishëm kundër një agresori superior. Por biznesi jep një mësim të ashpër: problemet tuaja janë problemet tuaja. Nëse dëshironi që një homolog të angazhohet, harroni problemet tuaja dhe përqendrohuni te të tyret… Dhe jo siç i shihni ju, por siç bëjnë ata. Tregojuni atyre se ju jeni zgjidhja e problemeve të tyre. Presidenti Zelensky dështoi në këtë. Ai foli për drejtësinë dhe Evropën, publikisht, duke injoruar sesi elektorati i Trump e percepton situatën. Shpresoj që presidenti amerikan të ketë mençurinë dhe aftësinë për t'iu përgjigjur ngjarjeve me qartësi dhe pragmatizëm”, tha ai për POLITICO.
Me gjithë pasigurinë, udhëheqësi ukrainas po merr mbështetje të gjerë në shtëpi për të qëndruar në pozicionin e tij. Edhe ligjvënësit që kanë qenë shumë kritikë ndaj lidershipit të tij po mblidhen publikisht rreth tij edhe pse privatisht disa thonë se ai dështoi të përshtaste gjuhën e tij me administratën e re amerikane. Por të gjithë e shohin atë si duke reflektuar besnikërisht opinionin publik ukrainas, duke mbrojtur me pasion kombin e tyre të sulmuar brutalisht dhe duke shprehur alarmin e ndjerë në të gjithë vendin për mundësinë e një armëpushimi që i lë ata të prekshëm ndaj akteve të përsëritura të agresionit rus.
“Ishte me të vërtetë një rrahje e një njeriu nga lideri i një vendi shumë më të madh – një që supozohej se ishte mik. Ishte ngacmim. Zelensky doli mjaft i fortë", tha ligjvënësi i opozitës Lesia Vasylenko.
Ligjvënësi Mykola Kniazhytskyi vajtoi incidentin. “Takimi mes Zelenskyt dhe Trump nuk duhet të kishte dështuar. Jemi të përkushtuar për bashkëpunim me Amerikën dhe shpresojmë që emocionet të qetësohen, duke lejuar që dialogu të kthehet në një kurs konstruktiv. Ukrainasit, më shumë se kushdo tjetër, duan paqen. Ne jemi gati për negociata, por ato duhet të vijnë nga pozicioni i forcës, jo nga kapitullimi”, tha ai për POLITICO.
Pyetja kryesore është nëse dëmi është i pariparueshëm. Disa nga pala ukrainase po i lidhin shpresat e tyre në reagimin e mëvonshëm të Trump, ndërsa ai u drejtua për në vendpushimin e tij në Florida.
“ He wasn’t foaming at the mouth. And I’ve had several people in the administration point that out to me. Trump’s sense seems to be that Zelensky is not in a favorable psychological state because of the stress of the last three years. I can tell you this, though, without the minerals deal, there’s no way in hell Trump is going to or can go to Congress to ask for more money for Ukraine. That’s what it was all about. And without it, there’s zero probability ,” the Republican foreign policy expert said./ Adapted from “Pamphlet” by “Politico”
Lini një Përgjigje