The first state visit to Ireland by Ukraine’s wartime president would always have carried diplomatic weight. Yet Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s arrival in Dublin felt particularly charged, taking place at a moment when intensified negotiations may prove pivotal in the story of Europe’s largest military conflict since the end of the second World War. Almost four years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, the US is pushing hard for a plan that might deliver a cessation of hostilities. Zelenskiy himself noted that his trip comes at “one of the most challenging yet optimistic moments” of the war.
While the Ukrainian leader was calling on President Connolly, meeting the Government and addressing the Oireachtas, Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, were in the Kremlin for the latest in a series of American-led interactions with both Kyiv and Moscow. The Moscow visit followed meetings with Ukrainian representatives in Florida.
The Irish leg of Zelenskiy’s current European trip, coming directly after talks in Paris with Emmanuel Macron, must therefore be understood against a backdrop of heightened diplomatic risk. In the French capital, he received renewed assurances of support for Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction; in Dublin, he was told again that he was among friends. Military neutrality requires careful interpretation when a sovereign democratic state is fighting for survival against a nuclear-armed authoritarian neighbour. Zelenskiy acknowledged as much when he said that Ireland is “neutral but certainly not indifferent” to Ukraine’s fate.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin reiterated his backing for an EU proposal to draw down frozen Russian assets to help plug the widening gap in Ukraine’s finances. The prospects for this initiative appear uncertain after fresh disagreements between EU governments this week. Nevertheless, Zelenskiy pressed the case once more in his Oireachtas address. He urged stronger sanctions on Russia and emphasised the need for accountability for war crimes committed since 2022. Understandably, he made little mention of the hard details currently being hashed out elsewhere.
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Even so, his words were aimed well beyond Leinster House. They were directed at a broader international audience, particularly Europe’s leaders, at a time when the contours of a potential settlement are being drawn in ways that may shape the continent for decades. The fear in Kyiv, as in other European capitals, is that Washington’s impatience for a swift ceasefire could translate into concessions on territory, security and sovereignty that would validate Russia’s maximalist demands. What remains uncertain is whether Ukraine, and Europe with it, will retain enough leverage to prevent such an outcome as negotiations accelerate in the days and weeks ahead.
