Volodymyr Zelensky don’t lower your arms. The President of Ukraine knows that the future of his country depends, to a large extent, on being able to come under the protective umbrella of the I’LL TAKE. The problem is that it finds strong opposition in countries like Türkiye.
Aware that the mission is not easy, Zelenski insists on moving or softening Erdogan and achieve that it allows you to have realistic hopes to become part of the Alliance.
With this objective, he is meeting today with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the last leg of a diplomatic tour in which, in addition, he is demanding the shipment of more weapons from his allies.
“Without long-range weapons, it is not only difficult to carry out offensive missions, but also, to be honest, defensive operations,” Zelensky said Friday from the Czech Republicfirst stopover before heading to Slovakia and then to Türkiye.
“We are talking with the United States, for now it only depends on them,” he added.
The Czech Prime Minister Peter FialaFor his part, he said he would send combat helicopters to Ukraine and train American-made F-16 fighter pilots.
slow counteroffensive
The meeting with Erdogan, in Istanbul, occurs 500 days after the start of the Russian invasion and in the midst of a counteroffensive by Kiev troops that, according to Zelensky himself, is progressing slowly.
“However, we are moving forward, we are not going backwards like the Russians,” the president said. “Now we have the initiative”, added Zelenski, who after passing through the Czech Republic traveled to Slovakia this Friday.
The Grain Deal
The discussion with the Turkish president, an important mediator between Kiev and Moscow in this conflict, should focus on the agreement for the export of Ukrainian cereals through the Black Sea, which expires on July 17, and on the NATO summit in next week.
Analysts expect Zelensky to try to convince Erdogan to give the necessary green light to Sweden’s entry into the Alliance before the match on July 11 and 12 in Lithuania.
Turkey blocks the Swedish candidacy due to an old dispute with Stockholm regarding the too lax attitude, according to Ankara, of the Scandinavian country with the Kurdish militants residing there.
Zelensky is above all seeking his country’s membership of NATO and wants the Lithuanian summit to lead to an “invitation” for kyiv to join the group.
The Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenbergaffirmed this Friday that he hopes that in Vilnius “the allied leaders will reaffirm that Ukraine will become a member of NATO and will unite to bring Ukraine closer to its goal.”
On Thursday, Zelensky traveled to Bulgaria and later to the Czech Republic, from where he demanded “honesty” from NATO and “courage” from his allies, from whom he demands more military support.
According to the Ukrainian president, the slow supply of weapons has delayed his counter-offensive and has given Russia time to reinforce its defenses in the occupied areas.
In Washington, US media reported that the Pentagon was preparing a new arms and ammunition package that could include the controversial cluster bombsconsisting of small explosives spread over a wide radius.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, He tweeted that he had spoken with his American counterpart about “new projects related to the supply of various types of ammunition.”
These bombs have already been used by both sides, despite the fact that they are banned by more than 100 countries.
Where is Prigozhin?
The Kremlin warned that it would “closely” follow the meeting between Zelensky and Erdogan and will maintain “constructive collaboration with Ankara”, in the words of its spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.
But in Moscow all attention is focused on the mystery of the whereabouts of Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner’s boss that at the end of June rebelled against the military command.
Although the Kremlin had agreed that the leader of the paramilitary group would go to Belarus, the president of this country and mediator of the pact that put an end to the rebellion, Alexander Lukashenkoassured that he was not there, but in St. Petersburg.
Peskovwhen asked about the whereabouts of Prigozhin, replied: “We don’t follow their movements.”
On the ground, Russian troops launched a missile attack on the western city of Lviv, hundreds of kilometers from the front line, on Thursday, killing nine people and wounding 42 others, according to a report by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry on Friday.
The Russian army claimed that it attacked places of “temporary deployment” of Ukrainian soldiers. “All designated facilities were affected,” the defense ministry said.
