How Volodymyr Zelenskyy is 'driving the west’s wartime agenda': op-ed

28 May 2023

As the Russia-Ukraine war continues, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is looking to President Joe Biden for support.

In an op-ed published Sunday, foreign affairs commentator and US editor for The Guardian Simon Tisdall argues Biden has no choice but to support Zelenskyy achieve victory over Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This comes after Russian state news outlet TASS recently reported the country "is warning Western countries 'of enormous risks' if Ukraine is supported with F-16 fighter jets in the near future."

Now, Tisdall writes, 'The F-16 U-turn, confirmed at last weekend's G7 summit in Hiroshima, paves the way for training Ukrainian pilots and the provision of 'fourth-generation' jets by Nato allies."

The editor argues, however, "Zelenskiy has been asking" the United States "for fighter planes since the war began," but the Biden "has not committed to supply planes."

He adds, "If it does, it's unclear whether they will be the latest F-16 models equipped with the latest weapons."

US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said, referring to F-16 training for Ukrainian officials, "We could certainly have started earlier, but there were much higher priorities, and it’s seen by some as an escalatory act."

Still, Tisdall writes:

The American shift on fighter planes is a personal triumph for Zelenskiy. His tireless lobbying bore fruit, once again overcoming Biden’s hesitancy and assuaging, if not dispelling, his misgivings. And it shone a light on yet another emerging pattern: how Ukraine's president, not America’s risk-averse commander-in-chief or the Nato alliance, is driving the west’s wartime agenda.

Tisdall also notes:

Biden should listen to Antony Blinken. His secretary of state has spotted a pattern over the past year: Kremlin warnings of retaliation and direct confrontation rarely amount to much in practice. The Russians huff and puff – but mostly bluff. Putin is not entirely stupid. He knows he'd never win a fight with Nato, let alone survive nuclear warfare.

Simon Tisdall's full op-ed is available at this link.

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