Extraordinary show of diplomatic support for Zelenskypublished at 16:42 British Summer Time 17 August
16:42 BST 17 August
Joe Inwood
World news correspondent
This is an extraordinary,
unprecedented, show of diplomatic support for President Zelensky.
When he
travels to the White House tomorrow, he will be accompanied by the leaders of
the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, the European Commission and Nato – all
there to reinforce the message that Europe has his back and will be heard.
Of course, there are regular
occasions when multiple heads of state gather in one place, but these are
usually for pre-planned events like Nato summits or presidential inaugurations. To have this many leaders assemble for what is essentially a wartime crisis
meeting appears to be without modern precedent.
Even during the height of the
fight against IS/Daesh, the meetings either took place under the umbrella of
other events, or were attended by foreign or defence ministers, as happened at
Joint Base Andrews in July 2016.
In 2015, multiple world
leaders representing the UK, Germany, Israel, the Palestinians, Mali, the EU
and Jordan gathered in Paris to show
support after the Islamist attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine. The key
difference here was that this was about solidarity, rather than crisis
diplomacy.
But, the leaders of Europe
also travel to Washington with another purpose.
They will want to make sure
there is no repeat of the disastrous scenes the last time Volodymyr Zelensky
visited the Oval Office. In February, Ukraine’s leader was berated and humiliated
by Donald Trump and his vice president, JD Vance – an event that had real
diplomatic and military consequences.
European leaders will hope
their presence makes a repeat all but impossible.
With more details emerging of
the deal President Trump wants Ukraine to do to secure peace with Russia,
including giving up long defended territory, these are potentially perilous
days for Ukraine. His travelling companions to Washington have reduced the
risks, but they still remain.