By Thomas Röper *
(Opinion) Ukrainian President Zelensky is desperate to draw Europe and NATO into his fight. This may be understandable from his point of view, because his country will lose the battle without Western military intervention.
Despite massive arms shipments, Ukraine is losing many soldiers and hardly has any military successes to show for it.
Also Read: Check out our coverage of the new multipolar world order
To involve the West in a heated war with Russia, Zelensky is ready to use any means. How long will the West endure this hot game?
THE MISSILE CAME FROM THE UKRAINE
The fact that the missile that hit Poland and killed two people came from Ukraine is now accepted by the West, although Poland initially blamed Russia and even summoned the Russian ambassador in the middle of the night.
That Ukraine launched the missile was apparent almost immediately. Photos of the missile debris showed it to be an S-300 anti-aircraft missile, proving that the Ukrainian military fired the missile.
The S-300 has a maximum range of 150 kilometers too short for the Russian military.
Moreover, the Russian Ministry of Defense has repeatedly stated (and repeated this time) that it does not attack targets closer than 30 kilometers from the Ukrainian-Polish border. Russia maintains this safe distance to prevent accidental strikes on NATO territory.
UKRAINIAN LIES
The fact that Ukrainian President Zelensky wants to drag NATO into a war against Russia is nothing new. The Ukrainian leadership is ready to use any means to achieve this goal.
Zelensky has often lied, or lied to his own people, and freely invented anti-Russian horror stories.
The most famous example was the reports of mass rapes committed by Russian soldiers, which, however, were fictitious and only intended to break the initial resistance in Western countries against arms shipments to Ukraine.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Arystovich even said openly:
“Ukraine’s national idea is to lie to itself and others as much as possible. Because if you tell the truth, everything falls apart.”
ZELENSKY WANTS A BIG WAR
The missile that went down in Poland was another case for Zelensky to manipulate.
As often happens, the incident happened at the “right” moment for him, because it happened right before the G20 summit.
That is why he can address his accusations against Russia at length in his video message to the G20 summit.
The German newspaper “Der Spiegel” reported immediately after the missile fell:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky laid it out: he declared that Russian missiles had hit Poland. Ukraine had long warned that Russian actions would not be limited to Ukraine.
The Russian missile attack on NATO territory seriously escalated the situation. There has to be an answer to that, he said. Action is needed.
The purpose of these false accusations against Russia was also openly stated:
The Ukrainian government also called for a united response against Russia. A NATO summit with the participation of Ukraine should work out further steps, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba suggested.
He linked the incident to calls for better air defense and US F-15 and F-16 fighter jets for Kiev. Today, protecting Ukraine’s skies means protecting NATO, Kuleba wrote on Twitter.
Zelensky also built on the lie in his video address at the G20 summit, as ‘Der Spiegel’ reported:
In a video speech shortly before the end of the G20 meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky again blamed Russia for the influence.
He said the missile attack was a message from Russia to the G20 summit. With Russia, the G20 countries also include a terrorist state against which Ukraine must defend itself.
This, he said, was “reality”. Zelensky had already accused Russia on Tuesday night of firing a missile at Poland, triggering a significant escalation.
PROVOCATION Ukraine?
Zelensky had to know that it was his missile that hit Poland. After all, CNN reported:
The Ukrainian military told the US and its allies that it had attempted to intercept a Russian missile at the time and near the site of the Polish missile attack, a US official told CNN.
It is unclear whether this anti-aircraft missile is the same missile that hit Poland, but that information is included in the ongoing US assessment of the attack.
However, Zelensky has spread the lie that it was a Russian missile. What is not reported in Germany is Hungary’s reaction.
The head of the office of the Hungarian Prime Minister told reporters:
The Ukrainians are responsible because the Ukrainian president acted irresponsibly and immediately blamed the Russians for these actions.
So, at the very least, we have to ask if Ukraine deliberately launched the missile at Poland to use this for PR at the G20 or even to draw more Western countries into the war. But this question is not even asked in the West.
WESTERN REACTIONS
Western media don’t even ask the necessary questions, but blame Russia anyway.
The line on how to avoid Ukrainian blame was given by NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg, who stated that Russia is still to blame because the missile would not have been launched without the “Russian war of aggression”.
The Polish government immediately blamed Russia.
The Russian ambassador to Poland was also summoned in the middle of the night and it was reported that Poland was considering activating Article 4 of the NATO treaty.
The article provides for consultations between NATO countries if one of them thinks that its territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened.
Meanwhile, Poland has changed its mind and no longer wants to trigger Article 4.
The Polish ambassador to NATO said that “Article 4 has its own preconditions in terms of political independence and territorial integrity” of a NATO country.
None of them were present in this incident, he added.
The quietest reaction has come from representatives of the United States, who have been reluctant to share the blame.
The US has no interest in a hot war with Russia, but they want to weaken Russia as a proxy.
Even in Poland, they probably knew immediately where the missile had come from because the military had seen it on their radar.
This is also shown by the statement of American President Biden, who said that the missile’s trajectory speaks against its arrival from Russia.
The Polish government is keen on escalation, but has apparently been overruled by Washington.
There is no other way to explain the 180-degree turn that the Polish government has made within 24 hours.
THE RUSSIAN REACTION
Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry known for her sharp tongue, wrote on Telegram about Zelensky and his machinations:
Zelensky is sitting in a bunker and cannot understand why his version of a ‘Russian missile in Poland’ is denied even by the most ferocious Russophobes.
The bunkered man cannot understand that he has been put in charge of a gang of thugs in Ukraine to do the dirty work, but not to dictate to his curators what to do.
Zakharova also commented on Poland’s strange behavior and its 180-degree turn on Telegram:
The Polish president has called the downing of the missile an “accident”.
Even yesterday we heard the hysteria of Polish officials and politicians.
Won’t the Polish ministries apologize for allowing themselves anti-Russian slander and summoning Ambassador Andrejev at midnight?”
* Thomas Röper, born in 1971, has held executive and supervisory board positions as an Eastern European expert in financial services companies in Eastern Europe and Russia. His critical media work focuses on the (media) image of Russia in Germany, criticism of Western media reporting in general, and topics of (geo)politics and economics. He has lived in Russia for more than 15 years and speaks Russian fluently. Today he lives in his adopted home in St. Petersburg.
This post was first published here.
Join us on Telegram: t.me/theriotimes
