The Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenskihit the media table this Friday when he appeared in Kupiansk, a city in the Kharkiv region that the Russians said they had occupied weeks ago.
Zelensky’s presence on the front line is not something new: in the first days of the war, he was seen walking through the streets of kyiv and renounced the escape offered by his allies; On other occasions, he has been seen with soldiers in Bakhmut or Avdivka, cities that ended up falling into Russian hands.
The gesture is enormously brave. Kupiansk is divided territory, as is Siversk right now, for example. On the one hand, he shelves, video camera in hand, the Russian claim to the territory. On the other hand, it demonstrates the human character of which a true leader is made, not only in the face of his own people, in the midst of a crisis of enormous proportions due to cases of corruption in his environment, but in the face of his allies.
How are they going to deny him support if he himself stands a few meters from the bullets and under the surveillance of Russian drones?
The message, then, is clear: the fight continues. Russia has managed to infiltrate the White House with the message that everything is lost for Ukraine and that it is only a matter of time before it loses the territories that the peace plan of Donald Trump forces him to hand over his neighbor.
What’s more, the White House is trying to sell its proposal as a favor to Ukraine “because it could still lose more if the war continues.” One of the things that Zelensky wants to demonstrate with his visit is that, yes, it is most likely that Kupiansk will fall, but the contest will not be so unbalanced if he can stand at its doors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Reuters
Putin negotiates with Erdoğan on the future of the Black Sea
While Zelensky called for a diplomatic effort from the front, Vladimir Putin met with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoganin the town of Ashgabat, capital of Turkmenistan, a few kilometers from the border with Iran.
Erdoğan’s case is one of the most curious on the current geopolitical table: he has never hidden his friendship with Putin and Russia, while his country belongs to NATO and Trump also has him as one of his great allies.
Thus, Türkiye has tried to mediate several times between Russia and Ukraine, especially in the Istanbul talks in March 2022 that ended in nothing.
He was also a key player in the negotiations between Israel – an ally of the United States – and the Hamas terrorist group, financed largely with Turkish money.
In this case, the meeting with Putin was aimed at finding a way for the conflict with Ukraine to stop affecting trade through the Black Sea, Turkey’s main export route to the West.
During the conversation, Putin again made it clear that he does not plan to accept any ceasefire right now. Putin says it, he says it Sergei Lavrovhe says it Dmitri Peskov…but then Steve Witkoff They tell him something else, he believes it and passes it on to Trump. Putin understands that the surrender of Donbas can be a first step from which to enter into matters, but he will never see it as the end of the process.
Zelensky and the impossible elections
Even in the face of rumors that Ukraine would be willing to accept Donbas becoming a demilitarized zone between the two countries – these rumors did not clarify which part of Donbas kyiv was referring to and there may be a trick there too – the Kremlin has responded with sarcasm.
According to Yuri UshakovPutin’s personal advisor and member with Kiril Dmitriev of the negotiations with Witkoff and Jared Kushnerof course there will be no Russian troops in Donbas… since, being Russian territory, security will be provided by the police and the national guard.
The irony of all this is that, without respite, in principle, Zelensky cannot call elections. At least, that’s what the Ukrainian Constitution says.
Under pressure from the White House, Zelensky affirmed his willingness to change the legislation to be able to face presidential elections in 60-90 days, but the road is not going to be easy… and it is most likely that, like every politician, Zelensky will postpone that decision until he has some certainty that he will win.
Not only does martial law imposed since February 2022 prevent the call to the polls, but it would be almost impossible to guarantee the electoral process in a country in which four regions are partially occupied by the Russians and many others are under constant bombardment.
It is in Putin’s hands to end this bombing, agree on a ceasefire and freeze the lines as Trump requested at the time. The thing is that Putin thinks he is winning. Therefore, it needs a Zelensky who records himself in the supposedly conquered territory and gives it a slap in the face of reality.