Straight news: Ukrainian ** Zelensky visits the United States and will give a speech in the Senate and House of Representatives, what are your observations?
Special Commentator Sun Xingjie: Zelensky was supposed to make a speech to the US Senate a few days ago, but it was finally canceled because of differences of opinion among senators at that time. In order to obtain international aid, especially financial and military assistance from the United States, Zelensky once again gave a speech to the US Congress, and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has now decided whether the battlefield can expand and consolidate its own united front. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has had a relatively large impact on Ukraine, one is that the focus of the international community has shifted from Ukraine to Gaza, which has not occurred since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The other is that the assistance of the United States and Europe to Ukraine is declining, Israel is a hardcore ally of the United States, and the United States also needs to weigh and choose between Ukraine and Israel. This time, Zelensky's visit to the United States is mainly to stabilize US aid to Ukraine, and to persuade American society, especially Republican lawmakers, to find sustainable aid channels for Ukraine.
Ukraine's big ** has not achieved the expected results, which makes the United States have different voices about aid to Ukraine: the United States has provided hundreds of billions of dollars in aid, but it is still a stalemate, and more aid can change the pattern?Doubts about Ukraine and Zelensky are growing, especially the bipartisan competition between the two parties in the United States on budget and fiscal issues, and the money to aid Ukraine is mixed with the US border control and the United States. This means that the matter of aiding Ukraine is not in line with the domestic political agenda of the United States. To be clear, Biden and his team have always said that their commitment to Ukraine is firm, but that the appropriation authority is in the House of Representatives, and that the Republican majority is in a somewhat similar situation before the Cold War. If Biden wants to deliver on his promise, he must convince Congress, so how can he be convinced?Vandenberg's idea to Truman was to scare the lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Now the Biden team is basically following this routine, their statement is that if they do not support Ukraine, Putin will win, and Russia will attack NATO in the next step, threatening the security of the US military and its allies. The director of the White House Office of Management and Budget also played the emotional card and said, "If Putin takes control of Ukraine, what will happen next?".NATO countries, as well as our sons and daughters, have the potential to be part of a larger conflict." Secretary of State Antony Blinken also expressed the view that "supporting Ukraine is supporting the United States itself" from another angle, saying that more than 90% of the funds for aid to Ukraine remain in the United States, because the production of ** ammunition is in the United States.
Zelensky also has to personally do the work of US parliamentarians, which is probably the core goal of his visit to the United States. On the one hand, to express the strong will and determination of Ukraine to fight, he recently said that the Ukrainian army has regained half of the territory occupied by Russia. On the other hand, it is to ask the United States to give greater assistance, the funds for aid to Ukraine are about to run out, and Ukraine depends on the United States for one-third of its finances, and even more so for ammunition. He said that the United States can trust and rely on Ukraine, and Ukraine depends on the United States, hoping that the US Congress will not betray the soldiers. Zelensky will also have a private meeting with House Speaker Johnson, and what support Zelensky can get during his trip to the United States will have a great impact on the battlefield situation in Ukraine, at least it will determine the situation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict this winter.
Straight news: Zelensky not only visited the United States this time, but he also appeared at the inauguration ceremony of Argentina before, what do you think?
Special Commentator Sun Xingjie: Russia and Ukraine have fallen into a protracted war of attrition, neither Ukraine's strategy nor the recent offensive launched by the Russian army has made a breakthrough, and this state will probably continue for a while. Under the stalemate and stalemate, each side is facing internal and external challenges, and stabilizing its own position, boosting morale, and expanding the international united front have become the main tasks of Zelensky and Putin.
Putin also recently visited the Middle East in a whirlwind, meeting with Iranian Raisi in Moscow, while Zelensky visited Argentina and appeared at the US National Defense University. After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the "Global South" has become an important force on the international stage, and Ukraine needs the moral support of the "Global South", even if these countries will not provide military assistance to Ukraine, it is necessary to avoid the "Global South" countries being co-opted by Russia. In addition to this, receiving the support of the "Global South" can also strengthen the strength and determination of Western countries to assist Ukraine. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has actually had a big impact on countries in the Global South, with food and energy impacting the livelihood of some countries in the "Global South".
Zelensky needs to stabilize the camp of assistance to Ukraine, after the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Ukraine is not only facing the local offensive of the Russian army, but also facing the problem of unstable will of the support group. The leaders of the United States and the European Union have repeatedly stated that their commitment to Ukraine will not change, but different voices have emerged, and Zelensky needs to face and clarify, especially for the issue of Ukraine's strategic dissatisfaction, but also to explain to the United States that if Ukraine does not have the ability to turn the situation around and achieve its goals, then the motivation for American assistance will decline.
Under the stalemate, the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield is more lively, both Zelensky and Putin are pursuing victory, and they need to boost morale, Putin recently said that "Ukraine's resources are running out, they don't have their own foundation and ideology, they don't have their own industry, they can't produce anything themselves, and therefore they don't have a future." And Russia's defense industry is constantly increasing, increasing its production capacity. Zelensky, for his part, believes that Putin has shifted the Russian economy and society to the trajectory of war. Recently, news about the domestic political situation in Ukraine and high-level negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian military has been coming out, which further proves that the ** war and psychological warfare under the stalemate are more active.
Author丨Sun Xingjie, special commentator of Shenzhen Satellite TV's "Live Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan".
Editor丨Li Yi, editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News.
Typesetting丨Su Ruixue, Shenzhen Satellite TV direct news editor.