Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy has finally visited the White House, two years after being dragged into an American power struggle by then US president Donald Trump's hunt for political dirt on his eventual successor, Joe Biden.
Neither Biden nor Zelenskiy mentioned the Trump impeachment scandal at their meeting, focusing instead on a bilateral relationship that is vital for Ukraine as it pursues reform while resisting Russian aggression, and which took on fresh significance for the US following its shambolic exit from Afghanistan. The day before he hosted Zelenskiy, Biden said the US now had no interest in trying to "remake other countries", but he was at pains to assure his guest that Washington's alliance with Kiev was stable and far-reaching.
Biden's administration pledged to send more aid to Ukraine, and to deepen co-operation on a range of issues, but – as Zelenskiy cautioned – the devil will be in the detail. It remains unclear how Washington and Berlin can meet pledges to prevent Russia using its new Nord Stream 2 pipeline – which will bypass Ukraine and delivers gas direct to Germany – to exert economic and political pressure on Kiev or even to cut fuel flows through eastern Europe. Biden also declined to give Ukraine a timeframe for the Nato accession that many of its people see as their only real safeguard against attack from Russia, which seized Crimea in 2014 and controls militants fighting a war in eastern Ukraine that has claimed 14,000 lives.
The Kremlin still wants a veto over the strategic choices of Ukraine and other states that became independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union 30 years ago. Ukrainians have since endured two revolutions and a war in trying to cut the interwoven strands of Russian influence and deep corruption that have stunted their nation's post-Soviet development.
As the US seeks to re-engage with Moscow on major issues – including Afghanistan – Zelenskiy’s White House visit has not allayed Ukrainian fears that Biden’s pragmatism could pave the way for dangerous trade-offs with the Kremlin.