Zelenskyy Travels to Europe to Prepare an Escalation

A “surprise” visit to Europe by a well-rehearsed Volodymyr Zelenskyy was staged last week to step up the war drive. It began in great pomp in the place which has done the most to keep the war on Russia going, namely London, where the Ukrainian President met King Charles III at Buckingham Palace, gave a speech before a joint session of Parliament; met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street before holding a joint press conference with him; visited Dorset army base, and more.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered his lines as expected, praising Britain, thanking former Prime Minister Boris Johnson in particular (cf. below), and then demanding that the Kyiv government be given advanced fighter jets (not just pilot training) to better serve NATO’s provocations. According to The Spectator, “hundreds of MPs and peers packed into Westminster Hall to hear Zelenskyy speak to rapturous applause”.

From London, Zelenskyy was flown to Paris, where he met Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz, before heading to Brussels to address EU leaders and a just as enraptured European Parliament. The message was the same everywhere. Ukraine is fighting on NATO’s behalf (and will presumably do so down to the last Ukrainian), and “we need artillery guns, ammunition, modern tanks, long-range missiles and modern fighter jets”.

A great deal of equipment was effectively promised, but how much will actually be delivered is an open question. As many military experts have pointed out, the UK, France, Germany and others don’t have that many fighter planes and tanks in working order and ammunition, to begin with, not to mention the lack of effective armed forces in Ukraine. They certainly won’t be available before the expected Spring offensive by the Russians.

Of course, weapons are not enough to win a war, but their production is apparently considered as a means to bolster the transatlantic economies (cf. above).