Biden ‘kept his promise’ to Ukraine at summit with Putin

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on June
17 that ‘America kept its promise’ when U.S. president Joe Biden met Russian
president Vladimir Putin in Geneva. Kuleba said in an interview with Reuters
that, “we agreed with the United States that no deals on Ukraine will be made
without Ukraine, and America kept its promise.”

Kuleba also told Reuters that because Ukraine is not
part of any alliance, it is, “a nation desperately seeking security. And this
prompts us to be active, to be pushy”

He also called upon Russia to withdraw its forces in
light of the summit, as Putin saw that, “America is back.”

James Hydzik: The
question of whether Ukraine’s diplomatic tone is a matter of hysteria, Russian
moles in the government, or earnest tone deafness seems to be solved. The
hysterical, the moles and the earnest have agreed upon tone-deafness and
“pushy”.

The result will be a degree of tolerance for this from
Ukraine’s partners for as long as some semblance of reform is underway. They
will also react to the situation at hand, as was seen by the military response
by Ukraine’s allies this spring. This response should not be minimized –
British troopers parachuted into southern Ukraine and U.S. Marine Osprey
troop-carrying aircraft flew up the Dnipro over Kyiv – displays never seen this
far east in the country and very clear messages indeed.

However, these are reactions, and for Ukraine to
take a more effective position, one which could help change the status-quo, it
will have to do two things: engage in more meaningful reform, and harangue
western leaders (which they must) without the pushy desperation coming through.