The war in the Middle East affected aid to Ukraine. This is Russiaʼs diplomatic success, because the worldʼs attention was scattered on two fronts — in Ukraine and Israel.
This was announced by President Volodymyr Zelensky at the year-end press conference.
"The war is affecting aid to Ukraine, the attention of the world community is being defocused. This has a bad effect on the stability of Ukraine. We must understand that we have a full-scale war going on. Russiaʼs diplomatic successes also played a role, as a result of its influence, some countries began to hesitate whether to help us," Zelenskyy said.
President Zelensky emphasized that the deaths of people in the Gaza Strip due to Israelʼs actions cannot be compared with the deaths of Ukrainians due to the Russians.
"We recognize the policy of two states — Israel and Palestine [...]. But the Russian occupation and invasion of Ukraine did not begin with a terrorist attack by people with Ukrainian citizenship on the territory of Russia," the president explained.
Zelensky also commented on the upcoming elections in the USA, which will take place in 2024. He believes that negative changes in the US policy regarding aid to Ukraine may affect the course of the war.
"I am not sure that the US policy towards Ukraine will change. If this policy becomes cooler, it will greatly affect the course of the war. If any important part falls out, the whole mechanism falls apart. If the leader in aid to Ukraine falls, this influence will definitely not be positive, in particular as regards aid from Europe," he explained.