Volodymyr Zelensky chose to visit Britain before France after Paris ignored Kyiv’s offers to meet Emmanuel Macron, it has been reported.
French officials were forced into a face-saving scramble to arrange a last minute stopover in Paris on Wednesday evening before the Ukrainian president headed to Brussels on Thursday morning.
Mr Zelensky made Britain his second overseas, and first European, visit since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But the Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Zelensky approached Mr Macron first and planned to go to Paris first, followed by London and finally Brussels, where he will attend an EU summit on Thursday.
Despite those talks, no “specific invite from President Emmanuel Macron ever made it to Mr. Zelensky”, the WSJ said, which allowed Britain to swoop in and secure the historic visit.
As news of Mr Zelensky’s secret visit to the UK broke, the Elysee was forced to field journalists’ questions over Britain’s diplomatic coup.
Mr Macron’s team put a brave face on it and pointed out that Mr Macron and Mr Zelensky had spoken as recently as last week.
France attempts to save Europe’s blushes
As late as Wednesday morning, Ukrainian officials said there were no plans to visit Paris before Brussels.
But behind the scenes, French officials were hard at work to save European blushes. Mr Macron and his wife cancelled plans to spend Thursday night at the theatre.
Paris contacted Berlin to see whether Olaf Scholz could join the hastily arranged dinner at the presidential palace, the WSJ reported.
The Chancellor had just delivered a speech to the German parliament in which he had vowed not to be drawn into a “bidding war” into who could send the most weapons to Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader had demanded British fighter jets in London in a historic and well-received speech in Westminster Hall.
He made the same request in Paris and will renew his plea for planes before EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday.
Mr Scholz, who has ruled out sending jets, said he would make the dash to France to shake Mr Zelensky’s hand.
In comparison to the pomp and circumstance in London, events in Paris seemed a bit more rushed and improvised. Mr Zelensky arrived at Orly airport at 10pm local time.
A ceremony of honour at the Invalides had to be ditched because the Ukrainian president was late coming over from London, where he met King Charles and addressed parliament.
Mr Zelensky did not give one of his stirring speeches in Paris. Instead there was a press conference before dinner in the Elysée’s salle des fêtes.
There was more than a hint of awkwardness at the press conference between the three leaders.
Mr Zelensky realised Mr Scholz was standing in front of the wrong flag and pointed out he was in front of Ukraine’s colours. The French president had to ask the two men to switch places and podiums.
There were ruffled feathers in the rest of Europe as well. Italy’s prime minister Georgia Meloni said on Thursday the Paris stopover before the Brussels summit was “inappropriate”.
Europe should have stayed united and welcomed Mr Zelensky as a bloc of 27, she said, without France and Germany attempting to grab the limelight for themselves.
French officials now insist “there were talks about a visit for weeks.”
They stress that Mr Macron has repeatedly invited Mr Zelensky to Paris and that there is no competition with the UK for the Ukrainian president’s attentions. It makes sense for a flagship visit to London, they say, as Brexit Britain won’t be at the EU summit.
But it is not the first time Mr Macron and Mr Scholz have been caught on the hop over Ukraine or left themselves open to accusations they were not backing Ukraine to the hilt.
The UK and the US, which Mr Zelensky chose for his first visit, predicted Russia’s February invasion but Paris and Berlin were sceptical.
Britain’s credentials for the visit were always strong. Ukrainians are grateful for speedy British weapon deliveries and the UK’s leadership in pushing the West to send more.
In Paris, Mr Macron awarded Mr Zelensky the Legion of Honour before the two men flew to Brussels together for the summit and a fresh round of intense diplomacy.
The two men embraced in an opulent room after Mr Macron handed France’s highest accolade to Mr Zelensky, dressed in his trademark khaki.
“I think it’s too much for me, and that’s why I address it (the decoration) of course for all of our people, the Ukrainians, for our society. And a great honour to be here,” Mr Zelensky said.
Was Mr Macron making amends for Mr Zelensky’s missing invite? Or trying to make it look like the trip had been planned all along?
The post How Britain won the battle for Zelensky as Macron dithered appeared first on The Telegraph.
