• Volodymyr Zelensky is going to Washington this Wednesday, where he is to meet President Joe Biden and then address Congress.

  • It is the first time since the beginning of the conflict that the president who has become a warlord has left the national territory.

    On Tuesday, he had already gone to the front in Bakhmout. 

  • A risky move but which allows him to embody "courage" and "Ukrainian resistance" while strengthening the cohesion of his troops, according to Michel Goya and Valentyna Dymytrova, interviewed by

    20 Minutes

    .

A few hours that will go down in history.

For the first time since the start of the Russian offensive, launched on February 24, Volodymyr Zelensky left Ukrainian territory on Wednesday, the day after a high-risk visit to Bakhmout, on the front line.

Destination: Washington.

The Ukrainian president had nevertheless promised, at the start of the conflict, that he would not leave his country as long as the Russians had a foothold there.

But the Head of State meant by this to give up taking refuge in an allied country, to govern in exile, to better endorse the costume of a warlord in fatigues and khaki T-shirt.

This short trip to the United States is part of a completely different logic: asking for help from his main ally.

“He challenged all the international players at a distance very early on,” recalls Valentyna Dymytrova, lecturer in information and communication sciences at Lyon 3 University, for

20Minutes

.

The Ukrainian president's videoconference interventions indeed multiplied at the start of the conflict, like a tour of Western parliaments.

Quit causing annoyance.

The Churchill of 2022

This time, it is in the flesh that Volodymyr Zelensky will speak before the American Congress.

"When you are supported by the United States, you have to go there and show yourself in the eyes of public opinion", slice Michel Goya, former colonel of the navy troops, historian and strategist, drawing a "historical parallel with Churchill embarking on a cruiser to meet Roosevelt in Newfoundland in August 1941”.

“Showing that he is ready to go such a long way to ask for even more support is a significant gesture in communication”, supports Valentyna Dymytrova, while the swing of the House of Representatives on the Republican side is observed with apprehension by kyiv.

However, American parliamentarians have already planned to vote a massive envelope of nearly 45 billion dollars for Ukraine.

But without necessarily being "essential", this meeting remains an opportunity to reaffirm the links between Ukraine and "an important partner on the international scene", considers Valentyna Dymytrova.

In addition, "Joe Biden had not traveled to Ukraine unlike other international leaders, when he was invited", she relaunches.

It was therefore appropriate to concretize the agreement between the two presidents and the American support by a gesture.

Before returning to kyiv with a Patriot surface-to-air missile system, Volodymyr Zelensky is therefore beginning a trip with exceptional security constraints, according to the American executive.

Measured risks

“A real chef takes risks,” launches Michel Goya.

His trip to Bakhmout, “on one of the hottest points on the front”, notes Valentyna Dymytrova, makes it possible to “strengthen his image as a courageous, dynamic president, to embody the chief of the armies”.

A strategy that creates a "contrast" with Vladimir Putin, note the two experts. It is also in the Donbass, where he represents "a priority strategic target" that the danger was greatest, according to historian Michel Goya.

"Once on the territory of a NATO country, it is hard to imagine that the Russians would dare to launch an action" exposing them to reprisals.

Especially since the setting up of an anonymous operation is complicated by the discretion that surrounds these two trips.

"Kept secret until the last moment for his safety", they illustrate that the Ukrainian president knows how to be silent when the situation requires it, points out Valentyna Dymytrova, after criticisms of his excessive visibility.

And once there, he can "create original content with substance", bringing a little variety to his "strong" but repetitive speeches, approves the researcher in information and communication sciences.



Similarly, the internal risk has been carefully calculated.

On the one hand, "we are in a stable period" of the conflict, with limited troop movements, insists Michel Goya.

Then, his visit to the front was intended to "strengthen the cohesion of the troops", list Valentyna Dymytrova.

Finally, his absence will only last a few hours.

"There will be no coup, and he can make decisions from abroad," concludes the historian.

Good guarantees when it comes to going "to embody the Ukrainian resistance" across the Atlantic, by bringing back a flag signed by its soldiers.

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  • War in Ukraine

  • World

  • Volodymyr Zelensky

  • UNITED STATES

  • Joe Biden

  • NATO

  • Washington