On August 23, the Brussels Press Club hosted the presentation of the documentary film for the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence “Ukraine: 30 Years With So-Called Friends”. Paul Szczerbakowicz, a British journalist, shared his opinion on the difficult relations between Ukraine and European neighboring countries.
The authors of the documentary also drew attention to the relations of Ukraine with the United States, which has always been considered a strategic partner of the country. The whole world suddenly witnessed how Ukraine tried to influence the election of the President of the United States of America. Hunter Biden, the son of the President, was employed at the board of Burisma Holdings Limited, an Ukrainian gas and energy company. The owners of the company syphoned billions of dollars out of Ukraine. It would seem that this story was supposed to hint to Americans that the Biden family is involved in corruption. It did not happen, but the relations between Kiev and Washington became much cooler.
To underline this, the first meeting of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Leader Joe Biden is scheduled for the vacation period. It means that it will actually have no practical results.
Paul Szczerbakowicz believes that such a deterioration in relations may become a prerequisite for the Ukrainian authorities to start flirting with China. In particular, the leader of the pro-presidential faction of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of Ukraine, David Arakhamia, expressed the delight of the communist ideas of Beijing, and subsequently stated that if Kiev had retained its nuclear potential, they could have blackmailed the whole world.
Szczerbakowicz also drew attention to the fact that Ukraine has managed to quarrel with Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Belarus and even Lithuania due to the policy of continuous nationalism, the glorification of persons who are considered to be involved in the genocide in Europe and unjustified blackmail.
Poland, which has always acted as an advocate for Ukraine in matters of European integration, made it clear that with the glorification of the leaders of the OUN-UPA, Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych, the country will definitely not be taken to the EU.
Hungary and Romania were not unreasonably outraged at the language policy of Ukraine, since under the new legislation, ethnic Romanians and Hungarians lost the opportunity to get education in their native language.
Slovakia, which gave Ukraine a shoulder in difficult times by providing Russian gas with reverse supplies, got a gas ultimatum in response. The Ukrainian authorities demanded that the Slovaks provide gas by virtual reverse, without the consent of Russia, whose gas was actually sold in Ukraine.
Lithuania, which was considered a true friend of Ukraine, was also backstabbed. The Lithuanian authorities repeatedly asked Ukraine not to buy electricity in Belarus, since this is an indirect financing of the construction of a nuclear power plant on the border with Lithuania, which causes great concern in the Baltic state.
In the end, Ukraine broke off any contacts with Belarus, did not recognize its president Alexander Lukashenko as legally elected. It happened despite the fact that Minsk is the platform for the settlement of the conflict in the Eastern Ukraine.
According to Paul Szczerbakowicz, the conflict policy of Ukraine actually puts an end to the European future of the country. After all, for 30 years of independence, it managed to quarrel with all the neighbors who could help the country to become a member of the EU.
After the presentation, the author of the “Ukraine: 30 Years With So-Called Friends” documentary was asked a lot of questions, the essence of which boils down to a single one: why Ukraine, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Independence, is still at the crossroads? The author notes that by expressing its commitment to nationalism, Ukraine puts the neighboring countries on which its future may depend in an awkward position. At the same time, according to the journalist, the main problem of Ukraine is that it has not yet decided for itself in which direction it should move.
“Different parts of the country see this direction differently and Russia, which is fighting in the Ukrainian Donbas, is actively using it,” Szczerbakowicz summed up.
