U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to land in Kiev today with Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland by his side. The Associated Press admitted that Nuland’s presence is “likely to irritate Russia,” given her history and orchestration of the 2014 Maidan coup, including coordination with openly neo-Nazi leaders and networks in the country. AP presented this as “Nuland’s advocacy for reform-minded, pro-Western Ukrainian politicians incurred the Kremlin’s wrath.”
Other media sources point out there will be “tension” in Blinken’s trip, because of his focus on fighting corruption and institutional reform. Money from the IMF will be dependent on Ukraine carrying out the reforms the U.S. demands, Unian press agency warns, and reporting that Blinken will demand results.
Unnamed State Department officials, briefing reporters on the G7 foreign ministers meeting in London on background yesterday, said that during the plenary session, the ministers spent an hour-and-a-half on Russia, including Ukraine and Belarus. Ukraine was also discussed in the bilateral meetings that took place on the sidelines. “[W]e’re all in agreement and stand in solidarity with Ukraine against Russian aggression,” one of the officials said.
Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of the political council of the Opposition Platform—For Life party in Ukraine, warned yesterday that the main U.S. interest in Ukraine is in the confrontation with Russia. “The world leaders who supported [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky made the right choice. But in this chorus of support the United States sets the tune. It wants Ukraine to be a stronghold of confrontation on the border with Russia that benefits U.S. interests above all,” Medvedchuk tweeted on May 4, reported TASS.
Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda, with support from his counterparts in the Baltic states, seems to be doing everything to keep the Ukraine pot stirring. He hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Warsaw on Monday (May 3), after which the Ukrainian President declared that Poland is ready to fully support Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations. Ukraine’s prospective membership in both the EU and NATO were on the agenda. “Our bilateral meeting ended today with the signing of a joint declaration on the European prospect for Ukraine, i.e. belonging to the EU. In this issue, Poland has always supported Ukraine,” Duda said at a joint briefing on the results of bilateral talks, reported Zelensky’s presidential website.
As for NATO, Duda promised that a roadmap for Ukraine’s entry into the alliance will be discussed at the NATO summit in June. It is well known that Moscow considers Ukraine’s membership in NATO a casus belli. According to Duda, at the June summit, the heads of state and government of NATO countries will discuss the security of Ukraine, and in this regard, the security of all of Central Europe. “Secondly, this issue will also formally indicate to Ukraine the path it should take towards membership in the North Atlantic Alliance, a roadmap for membership, which is now a fundamental matter and for which Ukraine is fighting,” he said.