The elections in the United States had Ukraine as one of the key issues in their geopolitical derivatives. Therefore, after the victory of Donald Trump, who has always defended that he could end the war “in 24 hours” without clarifying how, many eyes fell on kyiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the Republican leader to congratulate him and try to guarantee his support. “We hope America is stronger. This is the kind of America Europe needs. And a strong Europe is what America needs,” he said before the European leaders gathered in the European Political Community in a speech in which he launched several barbs.
“Making concessions to Putin is unacceptable for Ukraine and suicide for Europe,” warned Zelensky, who did not, however, refer to Trump in that part of the speech, despite the fact that the great fear of the allies is that the The new US president imposes on Ukraine to give in to Russia, as some of his former advisors have suggested. The Ukrainian addressed at this point was “some of those present” at the meeting of the European Political Community, which brings together the EU countries and some of their eastern neighbors, as well as the United Kingdom.
“And what’s next? Should Europe seek Kim Jong-un’s favor in the hope that he too will leave Europe alone? No strong leader who has helped build a united, strong and peaceful Europe would even imagine doing this,” he reproached before warning: “And we must not have any illusions that showing weakness or selling some European positions or the prestige of any country European, you can buy just peace. It simply doesn’t work that way. Peace is the reward only for the strong.”
“We are not defending ourselves against Russian words, but against Russian attacks. Therefore, we need sufficient weapons, not support in talks,” Zelensky continued in a rather harsh speech.
In fact, at the home of Viktor Orbán, who acted as host of the meeting in Budapest because Hungary holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council this semester, it has generically spoiled the relationship between European countries and Russia. “Hugs won’t help,” he said without mentioning anyone, not even Putin’s main ally in the community club. “Some of you have been hugging him for 20 years and things are only getting worse,” he added.
“During this war we have seen certain European approaches fail. For example, the closer a country is to Russia, the more the concept of neutrality weakens,” added Zelensky, who has launched another reproach to the allies, who are cooling his country’s entry into NATO: “The rapid accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO demonstrated how European and Alliance leaders truly conceive of guaranteed security, not with words, but through NATO. “Ukraine has taken good note of this.”
Nor has he expressly mentioned the ‘peace mission’ that Orbán undertook in the summer, when he assumed the presidency of the EU Council and which took him to Moscow, kyiv, China and Washington, causing great anger in the rest of the partners. But he has made it clear that the plan for peace is his own: “We are open to any constructive idea to achieve a just peace for our country. But it is up to Ukraine to decide what should and should not be on the agenda to end this war.”
“The bill for this war should be sent to the Russians, not Ukraine. So that Russia cannot continue imposing its false pretensions on everyone, from the Baltic to the Balkans. “Any country, any leader who respects international law and sits at this table should understand that predators always demand more and more profits,” he stated.
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