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Zelensky's Washington Visit Amid Shifting Alliances

22:00 recording · EN · 3 speakers

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Brief overview

Zelensky's Washington reset improves the tone, but Ukraine faces fading US attention, domestic protests and European conditions.

  1. Warmer Washington meeting, weaker American investmentThe tone changed and Patriot production was discussed, but the United States is far less invested in Ukraine than a year ago.
  2. Strikes inside Russia changed the narrativeAttacks on refineries and warehouses hit gasoline prices and public mood, without invading Russian territory as at Kursk.
  3. Europe is Zelensky's fourth frontEU support and possible accession come with conditions on corruption, human rights and civil rights that are hard to meet in wartime.
Executive Summary AI
  • Zelensky returns to the White House a year after the openly conflictual meeting with Donald Trump, this time while the United States is committed on both the Ukrainian and the Iranian front.0:44
  • Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti of ISPI tells host Silvia Boccardi that the tone changed completely: the presidents discussed the production of Patriots in Ukraine, and Zelensky also met the defence industry and a bipartisan group of senators pushing for more sanctions on Russia.3:19
  • She argues Washington is nevertheless much less invested than last year, while Ukraine's medium and long-range strikes on Russian refining infrastructure have changed the narrative and raised war fatigue inside Russia.5:18
  • At home Zelensky removed Defence Minister Fedorov, the architect of the asymmetrical drone strategy, and also Sirsky, triggering unusual wartime protests after last year's larger demonstrations over the anti-corruption bodies.7:35
  • On Russia, she describes a gasoline crisis, Ukrainian strikes on the Wildberries warehouses, stagnation that predates 2022, growth near zero percent, and fear of a new mobilisation wave after the September Duma elections.15:08
Key Quote
“compared to last year's meeting it is impossible not to notice a change in tone. The meeting was much more positive.”
— Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti3:19
Key Quote
“Ukraine managed to bring war into Russian territory, not by invading a portion of Russian territory”
— Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti6:59
Key Quote
“so the citizens do not have the possibility to vote against the party or the president,”
— Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti11:30