FLASH
Shkruar nga Martha Kelner
Unlike Putin, who was welcomed like a king, Zelensky risks being welcomed again like last time...
There will be no red carpet, no planes in the sky, no applause when Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrives in Washington, D.C. on Monday.
But the bitter memory of his last visit to the White House will occupy a prominent place in the Ukrainian president's thoughts.
In February, he was mocked by US President Donald Trump for not wearing a suit, before being ejected from the bar early as an unruly customer.
Zelenskyy knows he is risking another ambush in the Oval Office, but he must present himself as a willing participant in peace talks, lest he be portrayed as an obstacle to a solution.
There was initially cautious optimism in Kiev after Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, because it seemed that no agreement had been reached between Washington and the Kremlin without the presence of Ukraine, which they feared.
But that subdued positivity quickly disappeared with the release of a statement from Trump the morning after last night.
At the height of a meeting with strongman Putin, he seemed to have abandoned the one key thing that European leaders had hammered into his mind, that there had to be an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, as an absolute starting point for a permanent solution.
Trump had apparently concluded that a ceasefire was not required. “ The best way to end the terrible war between Russia and Ukraine... is to move directly to a peace agreement ,” he wrote on his Truth social media account.
This caused a stir in Kiev.
Many people there and elsewhere believe that Russia has no intention of stopping the war just yet and will use its military advantage on the battlefield to pressure Ukraine in protracted negotiations to give up more territory.
Meanwhile, the massacre of Ukrainians will continue.
What makes it more dramatic is the fact that Trump said before the meeting that he would not be happy if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire, and even promised "serious consequences."
However, reports now suggest that Trump is giving credence to the Russian position; in a phone call with Zelenskyy, he presented Putin's proposal that Ukraine give up even more territory in exchange for ending the war.
The Ukrainian president will no doubt be disturbed to see photos of Putin being welcomed like a king at a US military base in Alaska. This is in direct contrast to the way he was received on American soil.
In Trump's orbit, everything is a contest of personalities, and where he has a very obvious respect for Putin, he has contempt for Zelensky. This makes the Ukrainian's position very difficult. /Adapted from "Pamphlet" by "Sky News"
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