Volodimir Zelenski in Washington: resilience, many requests and fear of the future

The lightning operation of President Volodimir Zelensky in Washington, carefully choreographedit was conceived in part as a celebration of failure of Russia in its attempt to crush Ukraine, partly as a thank you to US taxpayers who finance the battle and partly as an argument to hold together a fragile coalition in the long, bloody, cold winter what is coming now.

But there were revelations between the lines signs of concern Zelensky for the coming year.

Despite the repeated references to “victory” and present moment comparisons with the end of World War II in the Battle of the Bulge, Zelenski and his senior military commanders doubt that the Russian forces that invaded Ukraine in February may soon be defeated.

And the Ukrainian president surely knows his country’s remarkable resilience in the first year of the war could be threatened in the second and that the determination of their rescuers could begin to waver.

The formation of the Russian forces it makes many officials wonder whether President Vladimir Putin has been humiliated is planning a new attack. And, for the first time, some allies and partners, including a minority of Republicans, are asking whether the United States should spend tens of billions of dollars in a nation that is not your ally.

A “shopping list”

It was up to Zelensky to address all of these issues and incur more spending without having to read a shopping list. He did it in a speech carefully thought out attract many sectors, in which the Ukrainian president was grateful and, at the same time, kindly asked for more.

Wants Abrams tanks and F-16 fighterslayered air defenses and the Patriot missile system that President Joe Biden has announced would be on the way soon.

Not surprisingly, Zelensky, an artist turned politician and wartime media leader, focused his appearance on highlighting the good news. Russia is in retreatthe US has supplied ever more powerful weapons, there is money to spare, and the Western alliance remains intact.

“Ukraine is alive and well,” he told the joint session of Congress, wearing a slightly cleaner version of his recognizable green shirt, a modest concession to the formality of a speech from the chamber podium.

However, he acknowledged the huge number of Russian forces regrouping as Putin tries to bounce back from surprise Ukrainian victories, such as those in Kherson and Kharkov, where occupying Russian forces were forced to withdraw this fall.

US military commanders fear that even if the 300,000 Russian recruits receive little and no rapid training, an enemy force greater than any other launched against Ukraine to this day.

After thanking Congress for the supplied weapons and ammunition, Zelensky asked: “Is that enough? Honestly not”.

Nervous laughter went through the House of Representatives.

Obviously he was referring to the real reason for his visit. From the beginning of the conflict, Zelensky seemed to sense that he needed to be more than just an inspiring leader: must be an arms importer and getting the Biden administration to send him long-range weapons that could inflict on Russia the kind of damage it has done, with ardent efficiency, to Ukraine’s crucial civilian infrastructure.

And from every point of view it has been successful, as it has gradually achieved more and more powerful offensive and defensive weapons, even if Biden kept the F-16s and Abrams tanks.

On Wednesday evening, Zelensky tried to appeal the minority of reluctant Republicans spend more on a conflict whose end is not in sight. It brought up the startling new role of Iran, whose supply of drones helped rescue Russian forces who were running out of precision weapons.

“It’s only a matter of time before they attack your other allies,” Zelenski said, clearly referring to Israel. It was a subtle way of saying that the war is not just a fight against Ukraine, but part of Washington’s long tug-of-war with a state sponsor of terrorism that is getting close to being able – if not necessarily intending – to manufacture nuclear weapons.

With that sentence, he linked Ukraine’s recent standoff with Iran over drones with Washington’s longstanding standoff over Iran’s nuclear program, as part of his strategy to portray war in his country as something bigger, a battle to preserve democracy and the post-Cold War world order.

And he made it clear, without saying it outright, that the biggest mistake now would be to give Putin what the Russian autocrat wants most: weather let brutally cold temperatures, widespread blackouts, water shortages and a campaign of terror from the sky break the will of Ukraine and fragment a remarkably united Europe.

“Russia is using winter as a weapon”, Biden said in his press conference with Zelensky at the White House Wednesday afternoon. He claimed that Russia was “freezing people, starving people, isolating them from each other.”

There have been attacks on Ukraine’s electricity grid and water supply a devastating costgiving rise to new flows of refugees fleeing the country, including tens of thousands who had returned home during the summer.

Air defenses have shot down a large percentage of the drones and missiles fired at Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, but the number of attacks is so overwhelming that many manage to hit the mark. There is little chance that this will change any time soon. it will take months build the kind of layered defenses needed to guard against the variety of attacks Russia has launched.

Meanwhile, Zelensky’s advisers are publicly debating whether it is wiser to continue attacking this winter or not rest and regroup.

​ In Moscow it takes place a similar discussion, according to US intelligence services. Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former Ukrainian defense minister who is now an adviser to the Zelensky government, said in an interview that Putin is “planning a new mobilization and another offensive in the first quarter of 2023. This makes it crucial to get the right amount of military aid to Ukraine.”

Many US officials disagree, believing Putin is in no condition to risk another major military operation.

And while Congress should pass soon a $45 billion additional weapons package and support for Ukraine, despite the objections of a small but outspoken group of Republicans, the long-term issue hanging over the debates in Washington is how to think about helping Ukraine if war it’s been going on for yearsas anticipated by many senior officials.

Putin, they say, may have lost hope – at least for the next few years – of conquering the whole country.

But they are sure it will lead to a long and hard conflict in the south and east, focused on provinces which declared part of Russia. Putin himself had the final say on Wednesday when he declared that he will spend whatever it takes and take whatever time it takes to achieve his goals.

It is clear that Zelensky will do it too.

c.2022 The New York Times Company

Translation: Elisa Carnelli

ap​