For Zelenskyy, a Celebration of Resilience and a Sales Pitch for Support
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s carefully choreographed blitz of Washington was crafted as one part celebration of Russia’s failure to crush Ukraine, one part appreciation for the American taxpayers funding the battle, and one part sales pitch for keeping a fragile coalition together in the long, bloody and freezing winter ahead.
But between the lines were revealing hints of Zelenskyy’s worries about the year ahead.
For all the repeated talk of “victory,” and the comparisons of the current moment to the turning of World War II at the Battle of the Bulge, Zelenskyy and his top military officials doubt that the Russian forces that invaded in February can be vanquished anytime soon. 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 the resolve of its saviors could begin to waver.
A Russian buildup of forces has many officials wondering if a humiliated President Vladimir Putin is plotting a new attack. And for the first time, there are hairline fractures — but not cracks — among some allies and partners, including a minority of Republicans who question whether the United States should be spending tens of billions for a nation that is not a treaty ally.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/zelenskyy-celebration-resilience-sales-pitch-131035411.html
