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Shkruar nga PamfletiTrump still seems to favor the Kremlin leader, not only flattering him but calling him his “protégé.” As military analyst Mick Ryan notes, “Putin is a colonizer, and he has completely colonized Trump’s mind.”
He hoped to return home from Mar-a-Lago more relieved than he had been when he arrived.
Then, yesterday, Zelensky had a new problem to deal with, accusations from Moscow that he had attacked Putin's villa with drones. The attack was dismissed as a pure fabrication, to be used to justify further attacks.
The Kiev leader’s trip to Florida ended in a tense atmosphere. Staff members, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that the tension was palpable even before they left. They feared a repeat of the fiasco of the October meeting, when Trump literally pulled the rug out by throwing maps of Donbas in his face and reneging on a promise to supply Kiev with Tomahawk missiles.
During the face-to-face meeting, tensions escalated when Trump, addressing a reporter and inviting the press to sit down for lunch, used the word “bribery.” The day before his departure, Ukrainians woke up to the news that members of NABU, one of the anti-corruption agencies that the president had tried to dismantle, sparking protests, were trying to enter Parliament to conduct inspections and expose vote-buying.
Moreover, for the first time, Zelensky faced Trump without his most trusted friend and adviser, Andriy Yermak, forced to resign after corruption allegations had been hanging over Bankova for months. Then, a joint press conference with Trump, in which the Ukrainian president couldn't help but smile wryly as his host described Putin's attitude toward Ukraine as "generous."
Domestic support for Zelensky has waned. Numerous opponents are emerging, from Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko to Valery Zaluzhny, the former Chief of Staff sent to Britain as ambassador, to representatives of the most nationalist wing of Ukrainian society who are capitalizing on the popular discontent of those who paid a higher price for the war than the Kiev elite.
In this context, speaking to reporters, the Ukrainian leader has repeatedly stressed that he is not interested in remaining "glued to his chair." Managing a country in its fourth year of war, with a population exhausted by martial law, military conscription, power outages and, above all, the high death toll on the front, risks costing him all his accumulated political capital.
Making a deal is in Zelensky’s best interest. But, as he explained to the press and as Prime Minister Meloni reiterated during a phone call with European leaders after his meeting with Trump, reaching an agreement is not enough. A fair deal must be reached. The Kiev leader knows that he cannot sign a surrender: Ukrainians would not follow him and might even turn against him. On the other hand, if he wants to achieve peace, Zelensky must not upset his main ally.
It is no coincidence that he is doing everything he can to convince the leader of the White House to his side. To resolve the most difficult issue, the Donbas issue, he hinted that he is ready to transform the disputed territory into a “special demilitarized economic zone,” provided that any withdrawal of Ukrainian forces is accompanied by Russian forces. This statement has been interpreted as a concession by Kiev. In reality, this would mean that Moscow would give up control of the territories it officially considers Russian and withdraw from the areas it has tried to occupy at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives.
Trump still seems to favor the Kremlin leader, not only flattering him but calling him his “protégé.” As military analyst Mick Ryan notes, “Putin is a colonizer, and he has completely colonized Trump’s mind.”
The Tsar's attraction to the tycoon is undoubtedly due to economic reasons. But Zelensky's strongest card to win the game is still the "Stars and Stripes". And only with this can he save Ukraine and himself. / Adapted from Corriere della Sera, Pamphlet
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