Media: Putin, Merkel and Macron teach Ukrainian President Zelensky a ‘tough lesson’
After four Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the Donbas, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky requested an emergency session of the Normandy Format, but his request has gone unanswered, the Ukrainian news outlet Glavred writes.
The news outlet believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron have taught their Ukrainian colleague a “tough lesson”.
They have made it clear that they do not intend to attend “emergency sessions” every time the ceasefire is violated in the Donbas, unless Ukraine has concrete proposals to make.
The article notes that Zelensky, unlike the aforementioned political leaders, is a populist who is guided by emotions, and not by the foreign political situation or diplomacy.
“Populists believe that their persuasive talent is greater and more effective than that of all diplomats combined. Zelensky is precisely such a populist,” Glavred writes.
For this reason, it is completely legitimate for the three leaders to diplomatically decline to meet with Zelensky.
“And they did the right thing. A tough lesson for our president. That which goes for Zelensky and Trump does not go for Merkel, Macron and Putin,” the article’s author believes.
On August 7, Zelensky held an urgent conference with the leaders of the country’s security forces in connection with the deterioration of the situation in the Donbas. The meeting was prompted by news of four Ukrainian soldiers being killed near the town of Pavlopil, near Mariupol. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported that the incident was due to pro-Russian militants from the Donetsk People’s Republic opening fire on the Ukrainian position there.