Reuters“Bruised but motivated”, was how one of the entourage of Volodymyr Zelensky described what they felt, like a small group of journalists piled up in what looked like an even smaller room of Stansted airport.
The British state had done its best to give the Ukrainian president “all the bells and the whistles” when he arrived in the United Kingdom for a summit with 18 world leaders after his Dressing by Donald Trump and JD Vance Friday evening, A source from the government told me.
He shared an embrace with Sir Keir Starmer outside n ° 10, where he was welcomed with spontaneously coaching crowds, and met King Charles for tea.
But it was revealing that within 90 minutes before the wheels of his plane went up as he returned home, Zelensky wanted to make the file to make his arguments in the world – this time speaking only in Ukrainian – to make sure that he was not misunderstood.
Having been criticized in the White House, then celebrated in the United Kingdom, his mood, at least at least, was not discouraged.
“If we don’t keep our minds, we drop everyone,” he said.
He made positive noises on The plan of the president of Sir Keir and the French president Emmanuel Macron to grasp the plans for peace Before presenting them in the United States, so that Europe increases its game, developing its own more convincing security guarantees.
Zelensky told me He would be ready to give Donald Trump one of his requests – To sign the mineral agreement that would give the United States access to someone from Ukraine.
Beyond that, despite all the pressure of a three-year war, under all the demands of the White House which, enough or not, has the power to protect or abandon his country on Sunday evening, Zelensky was held firm.
He told us that it was bad at this stage to discuss the abandonment of the territory that Russia had captured, and it was too early to “talk about lines”, that the Prime Minister had mentioned earlier.
He would not apologize to Trump or will not express everything that has happened in the oval office, which, for the moment, the camp of the American president asks several times.
Even the NATO boss called Zelensky to find a way to reset his relationship with the American chief.
However, in the stifling room of Stansted, there was not much in the tone of Zelensky who suggested that he was interested in doing nice.
He said he had traveled for hours to go to the White House – his visit was a mark of respect. He also said that he would never insult anyone “and that the conversation as it had broken out had not been positive for anyone.
Zelensky chose her words very carefully. He tried a certain measure to avoid a post-mortem of what happened. He was not rude about Trump – he barely mentioned it by his name – and tensions suggested that tensions would pass.
If you I looked at the full horror of what happened in the oval office You might not not blame Zelensky for feeling that it’s just not for him to say sorry.
If you listen to him to talk about what has happened to his country, you can understand why it seems so impossible at this stage to recognize the compromises may have to end the war.
Watching him in person talking about the violence and the sufferings that have been unleashed, you feel his total disbelief that anyone may not see the world in his way, where Russia’s assault means that Putin should not be spared, and his people should be protected at all costs.
But the reality? So far, Zelensky or any Western leader have persuaded Trump to adopt this moral clarity on this war. And even if it is painful, without the will to compromise, it is difficult to see the end of this war.
Zelensky is, however, an authentic communicator, no doubt, but also an interpreter by trade.
“Our freedoms and values are not for sale”, a message without abandonment of Zelensky wanted to communicate, as well as a desire to sign the mineral agreement.
He again expressed his thanks for the support of the United States and other countries. But do not forget for the moment, for all the meetings we have with the leaders involved in the public, there are so many more between them and their closed teams.
Just when our conversation was coming to an end, a suggestion that Macron and Sir Keir offered a truce of a month as part of their peace plan reached my phone.
President Zelensky knew and would he have agreed with such an agreement, I asked.
“I am aware of everything,” he joked, laughing in the room, then offering hand handles and photos by leaving the plane.
He wanted to have had the last word at the end of a dramatic and difficult weekend. But the conversation on this conflict has several weeks, if not several months to run.
