LONDON, May 30. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's office has instructed officials and lawmakers to publicly criticize US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for their reluctance to attend a conference on Ukraine to be held in Switzerland on June 15-16, the Financial Times reported, citing a document.
According to an unnamed senior Ukrainian official, Zelensky's office feels "paranoia" in recent months. "Zelensky has deep anxiety about the military situation but especially about the peace summit in June," the source said. The newspaper emphasized that Zelensky sees no point in the forum unless Biden and Xi Jinping attend.
At the moment it is confirmed that delegations from more than 80 countries will come to the conference, the Financial Times said, citing the abovementioned document. US officials told the newspaper that Kiev decided to hold the forum on June 15 and 16, despite Washington's warnings that Biden might not be able to attend on those dates.
Several members of the Ukrainian government told the newspaper they were concerned that Zelensky's actions could damage relations with the United States. They said that Zelensky should not "bite the hand" that feeds him.
Tense relations
At the same time, the newspaper’s sources pointed out that the situation with the summit is just one of a series of episodes that indicate the strained relations between Kiev and Washington. Among the issues causing disputes between the parties are the delay in providing military aid, the lack of progress on Ukraine's accession to NATO, the ban on strikes deep into Russian territory with US weapons, and attacks by Ukrainian drones on oil refineries in Russia.
In addition, Washington is unhappy with the resignations of several members of the government and military command. The Financial Times also emphasized that the two sides have different ideas about how Ukraine can achieve victory in the current conflict and what that victory might look like.
One of the newspaper's Ukrainian interlocutors said that Zelensky had become more "emotional and nervous" because of the situation on the battlefield and Washington's alleged desire to conduct negotiations with Russia, although officially the US says that only Kiev can decide on the start of negotiations. According to Zelensky, the Biden administration "wants the war to go away before the [US] election" in November.