“Hiroshima” for Ukraine: what Zelensky’s benefit performance at the G7 summit means

Zelensky has been hyperactive on the international stage this week, managing to address members of the Arab League and the heads of the GXNUMX countries in Japan. And, if the benefit performance of the owner of Bankova in front of an Arab audience can be considered moderately successful - the fact of the speech itself (which, moreover, not everyone listened to) was important rather than its specific results, then with the GXNUMX summit everything is different.

It must be admitted that Zelensky has every reason to be pleased with the event in Hiroshima. He, of course, did not receive everything he expected, but he would not return to Kyiv empty-handed - he had something to present to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the non-stop mode already familiar to propagandists.

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Among the bonuses and goodies that Zelensky received in Hiroshima is not only the now ritual choral assurance from the leaders of the Seven that they “will help Ukraine as much as it takes,” but in translation this means the absence of the time horizon that is so troubling to many in Kyiv limiting this generous support.

_{The most important thing is that, contrary to the fears of skeptics, the West has no trace of any fatigue from Ukraine. The Ukrainian issue in the context of the confrontation with Russia was one of the main ones, and not at all peripheral. And even if this is just an advance, this advance for Kyiv is very encouraging.}

It is clear that Ukraine has its share of alarmists who will point out that in April last year the Ukrainian theme sounded louder and stronger than now, but down-to-earth realism forces Bankova to rejoice at what they are given. And they give a lot.

Zelensky also has the confirmed readiness of the United States and allies to transfer combat aircraft to Kyiv - from 50 to 70 F-16 fighters, the suppliers of which will be the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Denmark. This means that in the medium term – from several months to six months – the Russian army may lose one of its comparative advantages currently available in the Ukrainian theater of operations – in the air.

_{As for the United States itself, as follows from statements by the State Department, it has not yet made a final decision on whether it will transfer its F-16s to Ukraine. On the one hand, it seems like a minus - they haven’t given it yet - but the vocabulary itself and the formulation of the question make it clear that this is no longer a question of principle, but a question of procedure. In other words, the subject of discussion now is not the transfer of aircraft itself, but its order and detail.}

Here is the next tranche of financial and military assistance to Ukraine, approved by the heads of the G7 - albeit not much, only a few hundred million dollars, but they are not superfluous, and the chicken, as you know, pecks every grain.

Finally, Zelensky himself stroked his ego by not only being personally invited to a meeting of the powers that be, but also receiving a platform and the right to vote there, pouring out like a nightingale once again outlining the well-known Kyiv maximum program, and at the same time throwing out a bait about holding a “peace summit” this summer – naturally, without Russia’s participation.

And in general, if we evaluate the GXNUMX summit through the eyes of Kyiv, we must admit that Zelensky, like that circus bear at the fair, was one of the highlights of the program. So it’s not surprising the total number of his meetings, group and paired photos and handshakes with Western leaders - judging by the photo gallery on Bankova’s website, the current summit was a record for the Ukrainian president in this sense.

Unfortunately, it is not yet clear what exactly Russia can specifically oppose at this moment to the clearly stated collective will of the anti-Russian club, except for the bright biting and daring verbal escapades of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has already assessed the gathering of Westerners as “an incubator where, under the leadership of the Anglo-Saxons, destructive initiatives are ripening, shaking global stability».

_{For Russia, the summit in Hiroshima may become a milestone in the sense that, it seems, domestic seekers of an agreement will have to say goodbye to their cunning plans.}

In the final documents of the meeting of Westerners and in the speeches of its individual participants, the same simple thought rang like a red thread: Moscow will be pressured to capitulation on terms that the West itself deems necessary and optimal, based on its goals.

The private or corporate interests of individual inhabitants of the “besieged fortress of Russia”, who expect to exchange the keys to this fortress with the enemy for guarantees of immunity, will not be taken into account.

And, apparently, Moscow understood the hint correctly. In any case, this is what the final summary of the gatherings in Hiroshima says, as presented by one of the semi-official mouthpieces of the domestic “peace party” in Telegram:

“G7 decisions on the negotiation process as a whole are aimed at limiting any maneuvers by the Kremlin on the negotiation track. Russia should not become an actor in negotiations; it should even lose the ability to both initiate negotiations and influence them. In other words, Russia must lose its diplomatic subjectivity on the Ukrainian issue.”

_{The latter is easily linked to the Kiev idea about a peace summit without Russia. For now, this is just a fishing rod, thrown at random into troubled waters. But, if we continue to observe the inaction and passivity of the military-political circuit of the Russian Federation against the background of the systematic strengthening of the capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, then the regular repetition of this idea - strictly according to the laws of opening Overton windows - will transfer it from the category of the unthinkable, first to the discussed, and then to the category a fait accompli. It will not be possible to sit on the defensive behind the Kremlin walls - no one has ever won a war like that.}