Volodymyr Zelensky collected Thursday in Washington a new aid package from Joe Biden and the support of Kamala Harris, who took the opportunity to attack American supporters of a “capitulation” of Ukraine, in an allusion to his rival for presidential election, Donald Trump.
“Russia will not win”, launched the American president from the Oval Office, 39 days before this election which promises to be extremely close, and on which the future of support for kyiv depends.
In order to “help Ukraine win this war”, Joe Biden had announced a little earlier an “increase in security aid” – but without the green light hoped for by kyiv to fire missiles towards Russia long range made in the USA.
“My support for the Ukrainian people is unwavering,” said Vice-President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, during a separate meeting with the Ukrainian president.
– “Surrender” –
“There are people in my country who would force Ukraine to give up large portions of its sovereign territory, who would demand that Ukraine declare itself neutral, and who would demand that Ukraine renounce military relations with “These proposals are the same as those of Putin and they are not proposals for peace. They are proposals for capitulation, which is dangerous and irresponsible,” she added.
The target of these remarks is clear: former President Donald Trump, Republican candidate for the White House, who has strongly attacked Volodymyr Zelensky in recent days, accusing him of preventing an “agreement” to end the war.
“This war can be won and a just peace can be concluded but only with the United States,” argued the Ukrainian head of state, who came to present his “plan for victory” to Washington.
Joe Biden called for a high-level summit to be held in Germany with 50 countries allied with Ukraine “in order to coordinate efforts”.
The 81-year-old democrat, a major architect of Western support for Ukraine since its invasion by Russia in February 2022, has decided to deploy 8 billion in aid in total.
Joe Biden, who will therefore leave power next January, continues to break down the envelope of 61 billion dollars voted painfully last April by a politically divided Congress.
– “Commercial” –
In the morning, the Ukrainian president was received in Congress by the leaders of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party in the Senate, both of whom wore yellow ties and blue shirts, the Ukrainian colors.
The Ukrainian president, dressed in a black and khaki outfit, “revealed the main points of his victory plan”, according to a report of the meeting, distributed by his team.
This visit comes the day after new threats from Vladimir Putin, in the form of a proposal to change the doctrine of the use of nuclear weapons by Moscow.
This would involve responding to “Russia’s aggression by a non-nuclear country but with the participation or support of a nuclear country”, launched the Russian president.
In a new Russian warning on Thursday, the Kremlin stressed that this change in doctrine should be considered a “specific signal” to the West.
“We continue to give billions of dollars to a man who refuses to make a deal, Zelensky,” Donald Trump denounced Wednesday during a campaign rally.
“Every time he came to our country, he left with 60 billion dollars, I think he is the best salesman on the planet,” quipped the former president.
Moscow, whose troops have been making progress in recent months against kyiv’s forces, claimed Thursday the capture of Ukraïnsk, a town in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
The conquest of Donbass, the Ukrainian industrial basin which includes the Donetsk region, is President Putin’s “number one priority”.
