Meeting with 78-year-old President Joe Biden at the White House Sept. 1, 43-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has gone mad, saying that all-out war with the Russian Federation is possible. Zelensky knows that war with Russia would be suicidal for Ukraine, subjecting its population to certain defeat, most likely complete annexation for the foreseeable future. Zelensky preached to the choir with Biden, also equally unrealistic about how much military support the U.S. can give Ukraine without triggering a wider conflagration. Russian President Vladimir Putin seized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula March 1, 2014, prompting a series of U.S. and European Union [EU] sanctions, driving the Kremlin’s relations to the West at the lowest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Zelensky can’t be serious when he says “all-out” war with Russia is really possible.
Zelensky has practically stood on his head to get NATO membership, much like Vitali Klitschko, when he lead the Feb. 22, 2014 revolt in Kiev, kicking out Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych. Vitali, with the help of the CIA, strategically planned the coup while Putin hosted the Sochi Winter Olympics. Putin watched Kiev’s pro-Russian government overthrown by a pro-Western coup seeking EU and NATO membership. Putin responded quickly Feb. 23, marching in the Red Army into Crimea to protect his Navy base in Savastopol. U.S. and EU officials know that any more aggression from Ukraine would result in Putin annexing the Donbass region of southeastern Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists have fought a blood war over the last seven years to gain independence from Kiev. Zelensky tries every angle to get the U.S. military aid in Ukraine to stop another possible Russian invasion. Zelensky knows NATO membership would be suicidal.
Yet Zelensky continues to push Biden for military help, knowing that it increases the chances that Putin will decide to take more Ukrainian territory. “I think there can be,” Zelensky said at the Yalta European Strategy [YES’ summit in Kiev, meaning the Ukraine could go into all-out war with Russia. Zelensky insists that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine since 2014 has killed 14,000 Ukrainians battling Russia-backed pro-Russia forces in the Donbass region. If Zelensky complains about 14,000 lost Ukrainians, what does he think would happen if he goes to war against Russia? With a population of 44.39 million, Zelensky invites more death and destruction if he chooses war with Russia. Zelensky’s been pushing Biden and NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg for membership to deter Russia from more violence but, if Ukraine joints NATO, the exact opposite would happen.
Sepaking at the Yalta summit, Zelensky thinks he can continue to intimidate Putin on returning Crimea to Ukraine. “It’s the worst thing that could happen, but unfortunately there is that possibility,” Zelensky told the press in Kiev. With talk like that Zelensky has written his own obituary, hoping that he can convince the U.S., EU or NATO to join forces with Ukraine to evict Russia from Crimea. Zelensky keeps pushing for membership in the EU and NATO but pretends there wouldn’t be consequences to Kiev. Any involvement with NATO or the EU would trigger immediate defensive countermeasures by Putin, including seizing more Ukraine’s sovereign territory. Ukrainian politicians, including Kiev Mayor Vladimir Klitschko, couldn’t possibly think that Ukraine would prevail in any regional war with Russia. Pulling in the U.S. or EU would be unthinkable—and Zelensky knows it.
NATO’s Stotenberg has told Zelensky that no country can join NATO when they’re actively involved with military confrontation with another country. Putin has made perfectly clear that any attempt by Ukraine to join NATO, the EU or received military assistance from the United States could trigger a conflict with Russia. “We have not received . . . a direct position on Ukraines’s accession to NATO,” Zelensky said. “Ukraine has been ready for a long time,” refusing to get the message that NATO membership in closed to countries actively at war with a sovereign state. Until Zelensky can work out his border issues with Russia, he’s not going to join NATO now or in the distant future. Zelensky says not accepting Ukraine into NATO hurts the Transatlantic Alliance’s strength. Joining NATO would trigger a wider conflagration with the Kremlin, undermining the EU’s security.
Zelensky has endangered the U.S., EU and NATO, saying all-out war was possible with the Russian Federation. If and when Zelensky crosses that line with Moscow, the conflict would be all his with the U.S., EU and NATO all reluctant to join Ukraine’s hostilities against the Russian Federation. Any altercation with Russia would potentially end Ukraine’s sovereignty for the foresseable future. Zelensky’s talking nonsense about all-out war with Russia over Crimea or the Donbass region. Biden’s got sympathy for Ukraine but he’s not about to risk a wider war with Russia to return Crimea to Kiev. “Honestly, I don’t have time to think about him,” Zelsensky said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky’s decided to end all diplomacy with Putin and try to push the U.S., EU and NATO into an alliance that could potentially start WW III in Ukraine.
