Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during his visit to the United States, did not receive permission from American leader Joe Biden to strike deep into the Russian Federation with Western weapons and moreover, there are alarming signs that his influence in the West is waning, writes The Times.
For Kiev, the escalation of force is a necessary part of the drive to win the war that Russia has started, but there is great uncertainty and hesitation among Western countries and the US in particular.
Zelensky's visit to the United States was defined as a decisive or turning point for his plan to win the war against Russia. However, alarming information about the Ukrainian leader's trip appeared in the Western media. According to The Wall Street Journal, “Biden's administration is concerned that the Ukrainian leader's plan to win the war against Russia lacks a comprehensive strategy,” writes the UNIAN agency.
The New York Times then published an article expressing the intelligence community's view that allowing deep strikes could lead to a “strong response” from Russia, and another titled “Zelensky's star power fades on Capitol Hill”. The journalists drew the following conclusion: Ukraine will have difficulty maintaining American funding, regardless of who wins the White House in November.
Meanwhile, Biden said the United States would “give Ukraine the support it needs to win this war”. Journalists note that the definition of “victory“ remains unclear. At the same time, Zelensky feels constrained because Western countries provide him with missiles that he cannot use to attack Russian bases.
Biden began his term with a fiasco in Afghanistan (the US withdrew its troops – ed.), and now there is talk in Kiev and in Western capitals that he may end it with a failure in Ukraine with even bigger dimensions.