Zelensky admitted that he was deceived in his hopes regarding NATO: the alliance did not introduce a no-fly zone over the country, but only helped with diesel fuel. Foreign Minister Kuleba also criticized the bloc. Against the background of reports in the Western media about plans to evacuate Zelensky to Poland to lead a guerrilla war in exile, it seems that no one doubts Ukraine's military defeat.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky made another address to the nation, in which he showered reproaches on his Western patrons. "All the people who will die, from this day on, will die because of you," the annoyed Kiev leader threw an accusation at NATO. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba spoke in the same spirit on Saturday. He said that the North Atlantic Alliance has essentially eliminated assistance to Ukraine. NATO does not manifest itself in the way Ukrainians imagined, the alliance's position – at least so far - "does not cause respect," RIA Novosti quoted Kuleba as saying.
"You had to think about people, about humanity. And what were you thinking about at that meeting?", Zelensky asked the leadership of the alliance. We are talking about an emergency meeting of NATO, following which the alliance decided to refuse Zelensky's request to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine – since such attempts will lead to war with Russia.
Brussels certainly took into account Moscow's tough stance, which President Vladimir Putin recalled on Saturday. "Now we hear that it is necessary to make a no-fly zone over the territory of Ukraine. But any movement in this direction will be considered by us as participation in the armed conflict of the country from whose territory threats to our servicemen will be created. We will consider them at the same second as participants in a military conflict," TASS quoted the Russian Supreme commander.
Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg explained to Kiev that there should be no NATO military aircraft in the sky over Ukraine, and soldiers of the North Atlantic Alliance on its territory. He added that the bloc allegedly does not seek war with Russia and is responsible for ensuring that the conflict does not spread beyond Ukraine, since such a development of events will be more destructive and dangerous.
In one of his videos, Zelensky addressed, bypassing the leadership of the alliance, and directly to the leader of the NATO flagship country Joe Biden with the same request, which sounded like a demand - to introduce a no-fly zone. The Ukrainian president even named the percentage of US citizens who, in his opinion, support this decision – 74%. "What else do you need to make an appropriate decision?", - the "MK" quoted the words of the Ukrainian president.
"I turned to President Biden, I turned, I think, to Scholz and Macron," Zelensky complained in an interview he gave to foreign journalists on Thursday. –I'm asking you to close the sky now, and if you don't have the strength, the power to close the sky, then give me planes."
Zelensky is no longer addressing the entire North Atlantic Alliance, but each individual NATO member country.: USA, Germany, France and so on, says Vladimir Zharikhin, Deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries. However, going to bow to the European allies of the United States in the alliance and trying to negotiate with them bilaterally is clearly a useless idea, the expert told the newspaper VZGLYAD.
"With the same success, Afghanistan, after the flight of the Americans, could turn, for example, to Germany and ask to leave the German contingent–" Zharikhin noted. - Being the head of a dependent country, Zelensky could already understand that the NATO states have not gone far from Ukraine in terms of their lack of independence. The decision on all fundamental issues is made only by Washington."
But the fact is that your Washington has already given an unambiguous answer. The head of the State Department, Anthony Blinken, directly stated following the meeting of the foreign ministers of NATO and the G7 – the United States does not intend to create a no-fly zone. The explanation is the same – it is fraught with war with Russia.
Kiev is trying to ignore reality – after all, both the United States and its allies have repeatedly made it clear that they have decided to refrain from directly interfering in the situation in Ukraine, Zharikhin noted. "They warned in advance that they would only help Kiev with sanctions and arms supplies," the expert recalled.
"But in Kiev, for some reason, they thought this way: the worse events develop for the Ukrainian authorities, the higher the probability that NATO will change its mind and intervene.
But the alliance did not do that. Hence this resentment of Zelensky, his despair," Zharikhin states.
The emotional statements, accusations and threats made by Kiev against the allies are explained by the growing understanding that the West is not ready to jeopardize its own security for the sake of the interests of its Ukrainian wards, said political scientist, former editor-in-chief of the Kiev Telegraph newspaper Vladimir Skachko. "Even Kuleba has begun to see clearly and is forced to admit that Ukrainian leaders are being used as cannon fodder, as expendable material for some big game, and nothing more," the source said. In his opinion, "people like Zelensky and Kuleba are needed by the West in the form of sacred sacrifices." "Even as the government of Ukraine in exile, they are not needed, they are too odious figures," Skachko added.
However, on Saturday evening, the Washington Post reported that, after all, America sees Zelensky as the head of the Ukrainian government in exile and that a plan for his evacuation to Poland is already being prepared. In Poland, "his [Zelensky's] government in exile will lead a guerrilla war," the publication wrote.
But, as Skachko suggested, it is the reference of the Kiev leaders to the fact that "the West has betrayed Ukraine" that can become their justification for the quite probable surrender of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to Russian troops, Skachko argues. "It is the non-intervening Western allies who can be held responsible for such a development of events," the source stressed.
Ukraine is also being defeated on the front of arms supplies to it. Thus, Poland and Bulgaria have denied reports by the Ukrainian military that these countries intend to transfer 70 military aircraft to Ukraine, which will be able to be based at Polish airfields. Polish President Andrzej Duda bluntly stated that Warsaw does not intend to send either soldiers or military equipment to Ukraine. "The message of the APU was a fake from the very beginning. The question was even where they would use these planes when the entire airspace over Ukraine is under Russian control. Even Zelensky knows this," said military expert Alexei Leonkov.
We should add that an additional confirmation of NATO's unwillingness to invest seriously in helping Ukraine was the news from Eastern European countries – which are most dependent on the US position. On Saturday, it became known that Slovakia does not plan to transfer combat aircraft to Ukraine. "There has never even been a discussion of this issue. We cannot transfer such an important element of the protection of our airspace without an adequate replacement," RIA Novosti reports the message of the Slovak Ministry of Defense.
Rafael Fakhrutdinov, Rostislav Zubkov