The West is increasingly losing patience with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has claimed. The diplomat cited the subdued welcome that the Ukrainian leader recently received on a visit to Romania.
Speaking at a meeting with Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, Lavrov argued that “everyone is fed up” with Zelensky, the Russia 1 TV channel reported on Sunday.
According to the broadcaster, the diplomat quoted Romanian Senator Diana Sosoaca, who directed an angry tirade at the Ukrainian president ahead of his visit to Bucharest last week.
Sosoaca called on Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to prevent Zelensky, whom she described as an “arrogant and unconscionable traitor, including to his own country,” from addressing the Romanian parliament. The politician further warned of “bad” consequences should she “catch” the Ukrainian president at the parliament building.
“We are going to war for Zelensky’s grain! March out of our country, godless man! If you think we will sit idly by, you are wrong!” Sosoaca stated.
According to Romanian media, the Ukrainian leader’s planned speech to parliament was canceled during his visit last Tuesday. Speaking at a press conference alongside Johannis, Zelensky insisted that he had never intended to make an address.
The opinion of Kiev in Romania has been adversely affected by the recent inflow of cheap Ukrainian grain into the country, coupled with what some see as discriminatory treatment toward the Romanian ethnic minority in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, speaking on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Marrakech on Saturday, Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergey Marchenko admitted that Kiev is being forced to make “twice the effort right now to convince our partners to provide us with support compared to the last annual meetings [in spring].”
The official put this trend down to “tiredness” among Ukraine’s backers, who “would like to forget about the war.” The minister also cited the escalation between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and the upcoming presidential election in the US as among the factors drawing attention away from Ukraine.