Visits to Ukraine
Visits to Ukraine should include arms supplies.
Political leaders who travel to Ukraine either have their photo taken and that's it, or they carry more than psychological and moral support in their suitcases. It should be noted at the outset that there are many ways to gain popularity, to engage in political marketing and to make oneself look good to a people like the Ukrainian people who need what we might call active solidarity. In other words, it is all very well for the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to surprise on a Sunday morning, May 1st, International Labour Day, with her presence in Kiev. A meeting with President Volodymir Zelenski, accompanied by several members of Congress, and a demonstration that she will fight for the approval of President Joe Biden's recent request for 33 billion dollars in arms aid for the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion, which is now in its 67th day. Pelosi represents the third highest US authority after the president and vice-president and reinforces the US position that it will not be cowed by Russian threats to use all kinds of weapons, including nuclear weapons, to counter US support for the Ukrainians.
A few days ago, the visit was led by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin. Undoubtedly, the US role in the effectiveness and solvency of the Ukrainian resistance is far more significant than is known at the moment and is causing the Kremlin enormous discomfort because it puts Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military units in a very bad position. For the moment, Russia has no evidence of support on the ground from US intelligence, technological and even logistical support, and the necessary preparation for the use of certain weapons systems that are reaching the hands of the Ukrainian army and its volunteers and foreign fighters who have come to fight against the Russian invasion. We are witnessing a war of intense attrition, both in terms of the use of conventional weapons to exhaust and crush Ukrainian resistance and to leave the country in a situation of total destruction so that it will take at least 30 years to rebuild and recover so that it can once again pose a threat to Moscow, which it never was. This also leads to a huge economic drain that Putin can sustain because he has been preparing the necessary money for some time, and also because several European countries are unwilling to cut off gas and oil supplies from Russia and thus prevent the aggressor's coffers from maintaining their capacity to cope with a conflict that has already lasted longer than expected. It takes a lot more than a visit by, for example, actress Angelina Jolie in Lvov, with an air-raid siren scare that was not in the script.
