Zelenskyy Visits The Pope, Italy, Germany,France And The UK
In a mini tour of the allies, the war is a political PR show of strength
Day 444 (13 May)
Zelenskyy visits Pope Francis and they exchange gifts. The Pope gives a gift of a small olive branch sculpture to symbolise peace, and Zelenskyy gifted an icon of the Virgin Mary on body armour. The visit lasted 40 minutes and no details of what was discussed has been released.
On an international scale, the visit means more than it does to the Ukrainians because what can the Pope actually do to help them except pray? I do believe in the power of prayer, but so far it hasn’t stopped the war or the deaths.
Zelenskyy meets with the Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni and the President, Sergio Mattarella to reaffirm Italian support for Ukraine against Russia.
The German drone manufacturer, Quantum Systems GmbH and the Ministry of Defence for Ukraine have a contract where 105 Vector drones will be supplied.
Zelenskyy has spoken to the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa to discuss Zelenskyy’s peace formula. No doubt this comes at a delicate time when South Africa has been accused of supporting Russia by supplying them with weapons. South Africa has claimed it is neutral but has taken part in military drills recently with Russia and China.
The IAEA (Grossi) will present a proposed agreement to the UN Security Council on the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant and the safety concerns. there are about 150,000 Russian soldiers stationed there as it is being used as a military base. However, many see this as pointless as Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and can veto any action. Again, it shows that the UN is ineffective in preventing wars and to hold an aggressor country to account.
Day 445 (14 May)
Zelenskyy visits Germany and accepts the Aachen Charlemagne Prize 2023 on behalf of the people of Ukraine. The award is given for service towards European unification. This is his first visit since the start of the war and provides an opportunity for Germany to show that they support Ukraine in the war.
He meets with Olaf Scholz (Chancellor) and Frank-Walter Steinmeier the President to discuss further military aid.
Later that day, Zelenskyy visits France and has a working dinner with Macron. Macron has said that France would train Ukrainian pilots but did not commit to any jets being sent, only missiles and training.
Russia launched a missile attack on Ternopil during the Eurovision Song Contest, as that is where the Ukrainian contestants came from. It appeared to be some kind of sick message.
Day 446 (15 May)
Zelenskyy visits the UK to show the world that the UK supports Ukraine after it sent long-range missiles. Sunak, the unelected leader has said that the UK will open a training school for Ukrainians to train on western aircraft, and would send more long-range missiles.
Prigozhin, the Wagner group leader has allegedly said he would give Ukraine details of the Russian troop positions if they withdrew from Bakhmut according to a leak. Allegedly, he had been carrying out secret communications with contacts with Ukraine, but Ukraine chose not to trust him.
Zelenskyy’s mini tour is to highlight the need for a fighter jet coalition, and while countries offer training for Ukrainian pilots, they need to jets to make a difference and to win the war.
AeroVironment, a US defence contractor is to provide Ukraine with new tactical drones including the latest Jump 20.
The fake evacuation of Zaporizhzia is allegedly to disguise the movements of the Russian troops, and to conceal any war crimes that may have been committed.