Zelensky is being squeezed by Merkel and Macron.

In my blog entry of (27/12/2017) I wrote that,

"Putin's military build-up of tanks in the Donbas is a prelude to attack Mariupol, specifically to gain that land-bridge with Ukrainian Crimea that he so desperately needs to further consolidate his hold over Ukrainian Crimea.

The Javelin anti-tank missiles now heading for Ukraine has spiked this strategy of Putin's generals." (Blog)

Since then, Putin's bridge now straddles the Kerch Strait, and just recently UNIAN reported that,

"Russian occupation forces have built the first rail track on the illegally built Kerch Strait Bridge, which connects Russia-occupied Crimea with Russia's Krasnodar Krai." (UNIAN : 14 June 2019) (my emphasis)

 As Mansur Mirovalev (right) also reports,

"These days, the average wait for Ukraine-bound freighters to get Russia's permission for passage [through the Kerch Strait] is 40 hours, according to the Maidan of Foreign Affairs, a Ukrainian-think tank." (Aljazeera : 17 June 2019) (my emphasis)

Since the Azov Sea port of Mariupol has great strategic and economic significance for Ukraine, and Putin now has a stranglehold on that narrow sea-lane between the Sea of Azov and the Black sea, through which Ukrainian ships have to pass to reach the port of Mariupol, how is the meeting today [18 June 2019] between Zelensky and Merkel going to deal with this critical stranglehold that Putin has over the Kerch Strait?


To-day's meeting between Merkel and Zelensky comes a day after Zelensky met Macron in Paris. 

Macron's effusive praise of Zelensky mirrors Merkel laying out the red carpet for Zelensky today.

As reported by AFP (Agence France Press),

"Macron praised the ambition of Zelensky, a former comic actor who stunned the world to win the presidency earlier this year, to end the five-year conflict. (AFP : 17 June 2019) (my emphasis)

AFP further reports that,

"The French president said new summit talks could be possible under the so-called Normandy format grouping himself, the Ukrainian president, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel." (ibid AFP) (my emphasis)

Now recall that Vladimir Frolov (left) of 'The Moscow Times' reported that,

"[Zelinsky believes that] talks with Moscow should take place in the presence of Western mediators, and the Normandy format should be remodeled to include the United States and Great Britain in a "Budapest style format" (The Moscow Times : 24 April, 2019) (my emphasis)

So how does this square with Macron's version of the Normandy format i.e. to be composed ONLY of Zelensky, Putin, Merkel, and himself? 

Furthermore, given that Merkel and Macron are now of the opinion that,

" .... the withdrawal of Russian forces, disarmament of local proxy forces and restoration of Ukrainian control along the border, are merely defined as aspirations, rather than indispensable preconditions to any “elections” in Donetsk-Luhansk (Vladimir Socor :Ukrinform, April 12, 13) (my emphasis),

Zelensky will be confronting Putin, with Merkel and Macron ostensibly supporting him whilst they are, in effect, giving Putin exactly what he wants viz. his Russian soldiers and proxies in absolute control of the Donbas whilst elections there are held.

If Zelensky should be wary of the hidden agenda of Putin and Macron as regards the implementation of the Minsk2 agreements, he should be even more wary of his upcoming meeting with Manchurian Candidate Donald Trump, the current US president who owes his White House position to Putin.

As reported by UNIAN,

"U.S. President Donald Trump has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to pay an official visit to Washington, D.C."UNIAN: 1 June 2019)

Furthermore,



"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's freelance adviser Boris Tisenhausen has said the president of Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump may meet after the G20 summit, which will take place on June 28-29." (UNIAN : 4 June, 2019) (my emphasis)

It may be timely to remind Zelensky that, shortly after he was inaugurated as President of the US, Donald Trump immediately put in motion his attempt to have sanctions against Putin dropped, sanctions which Zelensky regards as IMPERATIVE to obtain a peaceful resolution of the war between Putin and Ukraine. (Watch beginning and end of the complete video)

MSNBC (17 June 2019) @ end of this video

On my recent visit to Ukraine I was saddened to see just how much the 21-32 generation have left their wives and children to seek better financial prospects in the Schengen Area of the EU.

I only hope that Zelensky has this in mind when he meets Angela Merkel, who has a portrait of "Catherine The Great Of Russia" in her office, that minor German princess, who failed to incorporate Ukraine's Crimea into "Greater Russia".

(to be continued)