Zelenskyy Must Convince the US That Ukraine Can Still Win the War

In the middle of the U.S. election campaign, the Ukrainian president must address friends and critics in Washington.

The U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5 hangs over Ukraine like the sword of Damocles. For a long time, things didn’t look good from the Ukrainian perspective. American President Joe Biden, Kyiv’s most powerful ally, was facing a debacle. It seemed an almost foregone conclusion that Donald Trump would become Biden’s successor — a horrific scenario for Ukraine, which is already under military pressure.

Trump’s demagoguery is very much to the liking of the Kremlin, which wants nothing more than for Washington to cut back on U.S. weapon deliveries. At a campaign event in Savannah, Georgia, on Tuesday, Trump derided the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying “Every time Zelenskyy comes to the United States he walks away with $100 billion. I think he’s the greatest salesmen on Earth.” Moscow has every reason to look forward to the U.S. election.

Since Kamala Harris took over from Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate, Trump has repeatedly been on the defensive in the polls. Should Harris be victorious in November, then Ukraine has a realistic chance of containing Russian aggression and surviving as a state. However, this is far from certain.

A Diplomatic Balancing Act

With his “victory plan,” which he will present in Washington on Thursday, Zelenskyy must convince his friends in the U.S. that Ukraine can actually win the war against Russia, if they can get even more — and better still, more effective — weapons. On the other hand, he must appease critics complaining about the amount of money that they view as being wasted on the distant front line. Another diplomatic balancing act that the Ukrainian president has to perform, and it won’t be the last.