Hurricane Milton, in addition to having hit Florida, has also hit Ukraine’s expectations hard.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was supposed to attend the leaders’ summit in Ramstein, Germany, called by Joe Biden to galvanize allied support at a time when Kyiv’s forces are struggling to hold their positions in the Donbas – a graphic example of how climate change can impact even geopolitics.
According to NATO, The indication comes from American military circles. The allies were planning to announce it in Ramstein: the intention now is to find another date, perhaps in the coming weeks, says a senior US official on the eve of the NATO defense ministerial, scheduled for Brussels next week.
The two-day event will include – as is now standard practice – a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in which Ukrainian minister Rustem Umerov will update his colleagues on the needs of the autumn campaign.
The Ramstein summit, when it takes place, “will be successful in countering the impression that support for Kyiv is slowing or that the allies have nothing left to give,” assures the source.
“There is an underestimation of a very simple thing: if we want to build conditions for peace and for negotiations, we must allow Ukraine to reach this situation on its feet. Compared to the United States, we are ahead in economic support, but too far behind in military support. If it wants to count for more, Europe must increase military support. The best way to do this is with the European army”, on the other hand, stressed the EU Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, speaking at the Foglio festival in Florence, reports IlFoglio.
Ukraine, however, is impatient. Zelenskyy has finished his European tour and returned home to give the charge. “Defense packages for protection, air defense systems, and investments in the production of drones and other weapons in Ukraine: these are the results of our visits to London, Paris, Rome, and Berlin”, he wrote on X.
“I presented the details of the Victory Plan to our partners and now we will work to maximize our efforts both on the front line and through diplomacy: our common task is to bring a just peace closer for Ukraine and all of Europe”, he added.
Meanwhile, bombs continued to rain down on Zaporizhzhia (3 injured, including an 11-year-old girl) and kamikaze drones (28, 24 of which were shot down by anti-aircraft fire).
Defense packages for protection, air defense systems, and investments in the production of drones and other weapons in Ukraine—these are the results of our visits to London, Paris, Rome, and Berlin.
I have presented the details of the Victory Plan to our partners. Now, we will… pic.twitter.com/f9IuHkKTYl
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 12, 2024
In allied diplomatic circles, it is emphasized that Zelenskyy is “softening” his uncompromising position on total victory – hence the emphasis on the diplomatic dimension – and that, at the same time, the steps forward on the field, for Russia, are accompanied by “astronomical” losses in terms of human lives. In New York – explains a senior European official – the meeting organized by Brazil and China on the possible peace process in Ukraine – on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly – has gathered the support of 23 countries (few) and only 13 have signed the document.
Brazil and China have had to eliminate a sentence stating that the parties should recognize each other’s “legitimate security concerns” – a language clearly supported by Moscow – in favor of milder “legitimate fears”.
The positions of Brazil-China (which aim to support the global south) and those of Europe (aligned with the Ukrainian peace formula) remain “very distant” but, indeed, something is moving. The goal is to close the game in 2025.
How, is not yet clear. However, Kyiv’s stability remains central. Hence the a need to strengthen it given a negotiation yet to be imagined.
