Volodymyr Zelensky went to the White House on Thursday, September 26, to present the lines of his “victory plan” to Joe Biden. But the main event was his entry into the US election campaign, alongside Kamala Harris. Breaking with custom, the Ukrainian leader and the vice president gave a short speech, side by side.
The Democratic candidate was thus able, in a solemn atmosphere, to continue the political and military support for Ukraine, decided by Joe Biden since February 2022, but above all to underline the contrast with Donald Trump. “The United States cannot and should not isolate itself from the rest of the world, Kamala Harris said. Isolation is not isolation. »
According to the vice president, support for Ukraine is not part of the “charity”but of “strategic interest” of the United States. Without mentioning Donald Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, Kamala Harris noted that ” some “ in his country “I would like to force Ukraine to give up large portions of its sovereign territory. They would ask Ukraine to accept neutrality and demand that Ukraine give up its security relations with other nations. These proposals are the same as Putin’s. And let’s be clear: these are not peace proposals. Rather, these are proposals for capitulation, which is dangerous and unacceptable.”
Message to European allies
This rare parenthesis in the presidential campaign, dedicated to international affairs, was also intended to be a message to the attention of European allies, a promise of uninterrupted efforts, despite general fatigue. Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his gratitude for American military support.
The latter should strengthen the Ukrainian position in case of negotiations. “We must end this war, said. We need a just peace. » Volodymyr Zelensky presented to Joe Biden “the general lines of his plan of victory”, according to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. The qualifier “general” seems to reflect a form of masked American dissatisfaction.
In an interview with New Yorker, published on September 22, Volodymyr Zelensky described “horrible thought” the hypothesis of a rejection of his plan by Joe Biden. “That would meanhe added, that Biden does not want the war to end in a way that deprives Russia of victory. And we would end up with a very long war, an impossible and exhausting situation, in which enormous numbers of people would die.. » This type of public pressure irritates those around the American president. The United States wants more precise proposals on the contours of a possible negotiation. But Washington must manage its own Western differences over the security guarantees that would be provided to kyiv in return.
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