“This is psychotherapy.” Expert: Austin and Pistorius arrived to calm Zelensky | In the world | Policy

Former advisor Leonid Kuchma Oleg Soskin stated that “U Zelensky the office is already hysterical: Austin flew in “to keep Zelensky afloat like a float a little longer,” but did not promise any real help. But he said that the United States “does not have a weapon for Ukraine that could become a magic wand.”

Following the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin The German Defense Minister also arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit. Boris Pistorius.

What brought them to Kyiv? aif.ru helped me figure this out Candidate of Military Sciences, Chairman of the Board of the Center for Political Research of Russia (PIR-Center) Evgeniy Buzhinsky.

Vladimir Kozhemyakin, aif.ru: Evgeny Petrovich, yesterday – US Secretary of Defense, today – Germany. Why are they going to Kyiv if there is no good news for Zelensky?

Evgeny Buzhinsky: To calm him down a little. He’s starting to get hysterical; he recently said that if Western help stops, Ukraine will have to retreat. So Western officials are coming to him. This is a kind of psychotherapy. At the same time, maybe they will promise more shells. At the same time, I doubt that Germany, for example, will supply Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

— Isn’t it too expensive psychotherapy for Zelensky to send him two defense ministers as psychologists? Maybe the West could have done something simpler here?

“I think they will come to this.” Next time, Austin or Pistorius will probably not go themselves – they will send one of their deputies. Will be limited to second-tier officials and Biden With Scholz. There is hope that Russia will increase pressure and, in the optimal case, go on the offensive in Ukraine. The less success the Kyiv regime has, the lower the level of visitors will be, and then they will generally switch to calls in instant messengers.

— Perhaps, against the backdrop of a reduction in the volume of American military and financial assistance to Ukraine, Western officials go to Kyiv to see the real picture on the spot and understand how to proceed?

“It’s not a ministerial job to sort out such details.” Even before the Maidan, an entire floor of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense was filled with American advisers. Now, probably, there is not just one, but all three floors. Moreover, the Americans appointed a special representative for Ukraine from their Ministry of Finance, who delves into all this. Therefore, there is someone there to analyze and draw conclusions.

— Perhaps Pistorius’s visit to Kyiv is connected with the fact that Germany wants to take on the bulk of the costs for Ukraine?

— I also strongly doubt this, because Germany already has a hole in the state budget worth €60 billion. Therefore, those €8 billion euros that were included in the German budget to finance Ukraine also came into question. Quicker, von der Leyen will try to wrest something for Kyiv from the European Union.