November 2023 — MHCE Newsletter

26 | MHCE - News www.mhce.us NOVEMBER 2023 EDITION
criticism: “Are we being told that it is wrong to kill a
family, an entire family, at gunpoint, but it’s okay to
shell them to death?”
Other experts said Zelenskyy’s efforts to draw
comparisons were unlikely to resonate with Arab
countries.
Ukraine “has never been at the forefront” for the
Arab world, said Kristian Ulrichsen, a fellow at Rice
University who has written on Ukraine-Arab relations.
“It is a conflict that does not concern them.”
Ulrichsen added, “Israel is taking up so much bandwidth
that I don’t think anybody in the Middle East really is
thinking about Ukraine right now.”
This weekend, Ukraine was scheduled to host a third
round of talks aimed at fostering global support for its
“peace plan” — which calls for a unilateral withdrawal
of Russian troops from occupied Ukrainian territory and
full restoration of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty.
Unlike at the first Ukraine peace formula meeting in
August, which was hosted by Saudi Arabia in Jeddah
and attended by delegates from almost all the major
unaligned powers, it was unclear if Saudi officials would
attend this weekend’s event in Malta.
Zelenskyy spoke Monday with Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman, and in a readout of the call
issued by Riyadh, there was no mention of the Malta
conference or further help for Ukraine.
China, which in recent days has joined Russia in calling
for a return to a two-state solution to settle the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict, was not attending the Malta event,
Bloomberg News reported.
Turkey was planning to send a delegation to Malta, but
in recent days Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
has spoken out forcefully against Israel and has described
Hamas as a resistance movement — a stark contrast to
Zelenskyy’s stated positions.
With Russia stepping up attacks on the eastern front,
Ukraine can hardly afford to lose any friends. This
is especially true given increasing opposition by
Republicans in Congress to sending more aid to Ukraine.
President Biden has proposed an additional $60 billion
in assistance for Ukraine, and in a recent speech tied
that to increased funding for Israel and for strengthening
border protection in the United States.
But the White House must now deal with Johnson, the
new House speaker, who has repeatedly voted against
further Ukraine funding and told Fox News he intends
to separate funding for Ukraine from the assistance to
Israel.
Johnson has said Washington will not abandon Ukraine
but has questioned the White House’s ultimate goals.
Meanwhile, in Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orban, who recently met Putin on the sidelines
of a conference in China, is trying to shoot down a 50
billion-euro aid proposal for Ukraine from the European
Union.
The E.U. package will be voted on in December as part of
the bloc’s 2023-2027 budget and requires the unanimity
of the 27 member countries to be approved.
Tymofiy Mylovanov, a former Ukrainian economy
minister, expressed confidence that Zelenskyy’s
administration would come up with a plan to re-boost
international support for Ukraine and maintain attention
on the war in the short to medium term.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, the Ukrainian presidential
administration and a spokesperson for Zelenskyy did
not respond to requests for comment on what their plan
might entail.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has been preparing for the
possibility that U.S. support will taper off, according to
Orysia Lutsevych, director of the Ukraine program at
Chatham House, a London-based think tank.
Ukraine’s “Plan B” — evidenced by recent joint ventures
with German and Turkish arms companies as well as
talks with British and American manufacturers — is to
distance itself as much as possible from external foreign
politics, Lutsevych said.
“If America completely abandons Ukraine, it would be
very difficult,” Lutsevych said. “But Ukraine will keep
fighting with the resources it has on its own and it has
from European allies.”