It’s a surprise European tour. Volodymyr Zelensky arrived this Thursday, February 9 in Brussels. He is guest of honor at the summit of the Twenty-Seven. Upon his arrival in the Brussels capital, he was long acclaimed by MEPs.
Clearly moved, hand on heart, the Ukrainian President listened to the Ukrainian anthem alongside the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola. “When the world thinks of Ukraine, it thinks of heroes defying all predictions, of David defeating Goliath,” she said, hailing “a historic day for Europe”. Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that the defense of Ukrainian territory against Russian invasion was also the defense of Europe. “We are defending ourselves against the most anti-European force in the modern world. We are defending ourselves, we are defending you,” he said to loud applause.
Arms deliveries: Zelensky asks the EU to “go faster” than Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday urged European Union leaders to speed up arms deliveries for his country, in order to “go faster” than Russia. “We need artillery, ammunition, modern tanks, long-range missiles, modern fighter planes,” he told the Twenty-Seven. “Thank you for giving us the military support you are giving us, thank you for doing more. We must go faster than our aggressor. Our aggressor is mobilizing more.”
In Brussels, the Ukrainian president also thanked the leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union on Thursday for their “unfailing support” since the start of the Russian invasion a year ago. “I personally thank you for this unwavering support for my country,” Volodymyr Zelensky said at the start of the summit. “A free Europe cannot be imagined without Ukraine,” he added. “The closer we are, the stronger we will be,” he said.
“Welcome home, welcome to the EU,” European Council President Charles Michel tweeted on Thursday to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who arrived in Brussels to attend a European summit.
For Volodymyr Zelensky, this is only the second trip abroad since Russia’s outbreak of war on February 24, 2022, after his trip to the United States in December.
In Paris, Zelensky calls for fighter planes
The day before, Volodymyr Zelensky had already demanded in Paris that his allies deliver combat planes to him “as soon as possible” to repel Russia. As the first anniversary of the invasion launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, which transformed him into a warlord, approaches, the Ukrainian leader was welcomed at the Elysee Palace on Wednesday evening by his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, who also invited German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for a late dinner.
The moment is crucial for Ukraine, which is worried about the recent successes of the Russian army in the Donbass and fears a major offensive in the coming weeks. “We have very little time,” insisted the Ukrainian president at the Elysée. “The sooner Ukraine gets long-range heavy weaponry, the sooner our pilots get planes, the sooner this Russian aggression will end and we could return to peace in Europe,” he added.
Emmanuel Macron, for his part, assured his Ukrainian counterpart on Wednesday evening in Paris of his “determination” to “accompany” Ukraine “towards victory” and of his desire to continue French arms deliveries to Ukraine. “We stand with Ukraine. Firmly. And with the determination to accompany it to victory and the restoration of its legitimate rights,” he said. “We will continue the effort” in terms of deliveries of defense means, “he added.
In front of the press, Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz temporized on the question of planes, a new step in support for kyiv to which British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had, earlier in the day in London, seemed to pave the way with caution.
The chancellor confined himself to assuring him that the allies would support his country, in particular militarily, “as long as necessary”.
“We know that Russia will lose”, assures Zelensky in London
The Parisian dinner contrasted with the pomp of the British visit earlier on Wednesday, when Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Parliament assembled in London. The Ukrainian president addressed Westminster Hall, which hosted rare foreign leaders such as Frenchman Charles de Gaulle in 1960, but also the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in September.
“We know that freedom will win, we know that Russia will lose,” insisted the Ukrainian leader in London. “I ask you and the world for simple but very important words: fighter jets for Ukraine, wings for freedom”, he said, before concluding with thanks “for delicious English tea” and “in advance for the mighty British planes”.
British Challenger tanks promised by London to kyiv will be operational “next month” in Ukraine, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told a press conference. “Ukrainian teams that arrived last week (to train in the UK) will use Challenger 2 tanks to defend Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty next month,” Rishi Sunak said next to Volodymyr Zelensky in the southwest from England, confirming the timetable given in January by the government, which had mentioned deliveries at the end of March.
Zelensky: “I think Macron has changed”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed on Wednesday that his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, sometimes accused of not being at the forefront of support for Ukraine, had “changed”, and considered that confidence was “real today “, in a daily interview Le Figaro.
“I believe he has changed. And he has changed for real this time,” said the Ukrainian head of state. “After all, he was the one who opened the door to tank deliveries. He also supported Ukraine’s candidacy for the EU. I think that was a real signal,” added the Ukrainian president. “We had a lot of conversations with France, Germany and the other countries. I believe that the confidence is real today,” he said.
The French president has come under fire in Ukraine and Eastern European countries for repeatedly saying that “Russia should not be humiliated” and for speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin dozens of times since beginning of the Russian invasion almost a year ago. Paris had also been accused of dragging its feet on arms deliveries to Ukraine.
“If the Russians take Bakhmout, ‘they will want to go further’, says Zelensky
Volodymyr Zelensky also estimated on Wednesday in this interview with Le Figaro that if the Russians took Bakhmout, a city in the east that has been the scene of bloody fighting for more than six months, they would have an “advantage” and would like to “go further”. “Of course, from a strategic point of view, Bakhmout does not matter much because the Russians have completely destroyed the city with their artillery. But if they take Bakhmout, they will want to go further. This will give them a advantage,” he said, adding, “the question is what happens after Bakhmout?” “We have to hold out in time to receive weapons,” said the Ukrainian president.
Bakhmout, a city of some 70,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion, is one of the hot spots on the eastern front, and the belligerents have been fighting a devastating and deadly battle there since the summer. It was almost destroyed and the few thousand of its inhabitants who remained there survived, holed up in cellars. The Battle of Bakhmout has taken on a symbolic dimension, in particular because mercenaries from the private Russian group Wagner are fighting there and their boss Yevgueni Prigojine would like to offer a victory to Russia, which had to retreat after a counter-offensive. Ukrainian in the east in the fall.
In Khartoum, Lavrov defends the operations of the Wagner group in Africa
On a visit to Sudan, the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov defended, this Thursday, the operations of the paramilitary group Wagner in Africa, “deployed at the request of governments” and “contributing to normalizing the situation in the region” in the face of the terrorist threat. Lavrov notably cited the “Centrafrique”, considered Wagner’s laboratory on the African continent, before he turned to other countries, such as Mali and Burkina Faso.
This paramilitary group founded in 2014, with decried actions and considered by the United States as an international terrorist organization, has established itself as a major player in the conflict in Ukraine. His mercenaries have also been sighted in Syria and Libya. The United States, which has been trying for several years to thwart Russian influence in Africa, accuses the Wagner group of “committing human rights violations and extorting natural resources in Africa”.
2024 Olympics: IOC denounces Ukrainian boycott threats
Ukrainian threats to boycott the Paris 2024 Olympics if Russian and Belarusian athletes participate “go against the fundamentals of the Olympic movement”, said the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, in a revealed letter Thursday by the Ukrainian Olympic Committee.
In this response, dated January 31, to the multiple calls from kyiv to exclude the representatives of the two countries, even under a neutral banner, Thomas Bach also assures that the Ukrainian “pressures” are perceived as “extremely regrettable” by “the vast majority”. of the various Olympic players, from national committees to international federations.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, for her part paid a visit to kyiv on Thursday where she anchored her new position against the arrival of Russian athletes during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, “as long as Russia continues to wage war on Ukraine”. “I have no doubt that the International Olympic Committee”, decision maker on this very sensitive diplomatic subject, “will be able to endorse this position”, she added.
Washington denies being responsible for the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines
The White House on Wednesday categorically denied being behind the spectacular sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in September, rejecting accusations by a US investigative journalist. In an article published on his own blog, Seymour Hersh writes that US Navy divers, aided by Norway, planted explosives on these gas pipelines linking Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea in June, setting them off three months later.
This information is “totally false” and is “pure fiction”, retorted Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the National Security Council of the White House. Same echo at the CIA, where a spokesperson assured that the article was “absolutely false”. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also denied his country’s involvement, deeming the allegations “false”. Western countries had accused Russia of being responsible for these impressive leaks preceded by underwater explosions.