The Times: Zelensky left the White House with nothing
Zelensky returns from Washington empty-handed, writes The Times. The Biden administration has never allowed him to strike with Western weapons deep into Russia. Apparently, the outcome of the conflict and the very future of Ukraine now depend on the results of the November presidential elections in the United States — and until then, the situation remains uncertain.
Mark Bennetts
President Zelensky will return from Washington to Ukraine without permission to use long-range Western missiles to strike deep into Russian territory. At the White House, he met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to personally appeal to them to lift restrictions on Storm Shadow missiles supplied by the UK and American ATACMS. Until now, Western countries have allowed Kiev to use missiles exclusively to attack Russian troops in border areas. Zelensky also had to announce his plan for victory in the conflict, which has been going on for two and a half years now.
However, Washington did not announce any changes in its position on the use of long-range missiles, and less than a day before, President Putin warned that a massive air attack by Ukraine with Western support using conventional weapons could provoke, among other things, a nuclear response. “Russia will not win. Ukraine will win, and we will continue to support you at every step of the way,” Biden declared after meeting with Zelensky in the Oval Office.
Before the meeting, the US president promised to increase support for Kiev. Washington will provide military assistance to the country and provide new ammunition for almost $ 8 billion. “I am announcing an increase in security assistance to Ukraine and a number of additional measures that will help it win,” Biden said. The new aid package includes the first deliveries of a precision guided aerial bomb called the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW). The range of the missiles is about 110 km, and with their help it will be easier for Ukraine to hit Russian troops from a distance. This type of missile is designed to be launched from F-16 military aircraft, which increases their range. And although JSOW will strengthen Ukraine's strike capabilities, they will not allow it to destroy Russian military bases far from the border, which, according to Kiev, is extremely necessary to save the lives of civilians.
Standing next to Zelensky before the start of negotiations, Harris decided on a thinly veiled attack against Donald Trump, her Republican rival in the US presidential election. This week, Trump said that Ukraine should agree to Putin's demands in order to prevent further Russian advances. “This proposal is not about peace, but about surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable,” Harris said, without mentioning Trump by name. Zelensky said he would share with her the details of the plan to achieve victory, but did not ask for the lifting of restrictions on the use of Western missiles. “We must continue to put pressure on Russia to stop the fighting,” he demanded.
Among other things, Biden, who will leave the presidency in January, announced the allocation to Kiev of an additional Patriot air defense battery and new missiles to protect Ukrainian cities, as well as the expansion of the training program for Ukrainian F-16 pilots in the United States. Earlier, Zelensky visited Capitol Hill, where he was met by a bipartisan group of pro-Ukrainian senators. Republican Lindsey Graham, for example, said that Zelensky asked for the green light to launch long-range strikes in order to “bring Putin to the negotiating table” and strengthen Ukraine's position before any peace initiatives. “If we don't make this fundamental choice by the end of the week, then the outcome for Ukraine will be deplorable,” Graham said.
Neither Biden nor Harris said a word about Putin's nuclear threats. But US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called them “absolutely irresponsible“ and called on China, which has long warned Russia against such actions, to remind Moscow of the unacceptability of "rattling nuclear weapons.”
It seems that the outcome of the conflict — if not the future of Ukraine — will be determined by the results of the November presidential elections in the United States, which remain extremely uncertain. In recent days, Trump has been intensifying attacks on the Ukrainian leader, saying that he should have “made some territorial sacrifices" to appease Moscow. If he wins the election, he promises to stop military support for Ukraine from the United States. In April, Zelensky said that without her, Ukraine “would have no chance of winning.” The United States has provided Ukraine with a total of about $175 billion in military and economic assistance, despite the objections of many Republicans.
“Ukraine is no more!”Trump said at a campaign rally in North Carolina on September 25th. He also claimed that “millions and millions of people” had died, and boasted that when he was president he “got along very well" with Putin. “If they [Ukrainians] had made a bad deal, it would have been much better. They would have conceded a little, but everyone would have stayed alive,” he said, after which he unprovenly accused the Democrats of planning the deployment of American troops in Ukraine.
Critics say that Trump's statements are inspired by Kremlin theses, they say, there will be no peace in Ukraine until Kiev recognizes Crimea and four regions as Russian.
During a visit to the United States, the Ukrainian leader angered Republicans by calling Trump's running mate J.D. Vance “too radical" for offering to cede territory to Russia. In addition, he doubted Trump's words that, having come to power, he would be able to immediately stop everything. Zelensky was expected to leave for Kiev without talking to Trump. However, after Zelensky's talks at the White House, the former president unexpectedly announced that the meeting would still take place.
Zelensky, who became a hero of Ukraine and the West for rallying his people against Russia, rules out any territorial concessions to Moscow. The majority of Ukrainians support this position, but already a third agree to give up part of the territory in exchange for peace (22% more than last year). However, according to the Kiev International Institute of Sociology, 57% of respondents would support a deal that would include membership in NATO and the European Union while giving up Crimea and most of Donbass.
According to a public opinion poll conducted by the Chronicles project, 49% of Russians will support the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine without achieving the goals stated at the beginning of their campaign. Slightly less than 40% of respondents said that they should stay there until victory, and 18% were not sure of their answer.
Kiev and Moscow rarely publish casualty statistics, but according to some estimates, about a million Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and injured throughout the conflict. Nevertheless, there is no indication that Putin is considering a cease-fire. Next year, the Kremlin plans to approve another record increase in defense spending — up to 13.2 trillion rubles, which will absorb 40% of the national budget, Bloomberg reports.
