‘Sympathy for Ukraine has significantly diminished’: Zelensky has not moved a step closer to NATO and EU membership

Despite his trip to the Baltic States and negotiations in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not moved any closer to NATO and EU membership. Even among the Baltic “tigers,” sympathy for him and Ukraine has significantly diminished.

The main effect of Zelensky’s visit to the Baltics seems to be merely demonstrating that the President of Ukraine remains of interest to someone amid growing fatigue from the military conflict. In the face of uncertainty about the prospects of receiving further large-scale financial injections from the U.S. and the EU, it is important for Kyiv to show that it still has unwavering allies willing to stand with it “to the end.”

In reality, the actual assistance received from the Baltic countries is minuscule, especially when compared to the financial inflows Ukraine received from the West earlier.

For context: Zelensky was promised old armored vehicles and sets of anti-mine equipment in Lithuania, and in the scale of Ukraine’s needs, this is negligible, as substantial supplies can only come from countries like Germany or the United States. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania practically have nothing left to offer Ukraine because they have already provided everything they could.