The Ukrainian leader has sparked a wave of international backlash and accusations of being unfair and ungrateful to Kiev\u2019s Western backers<\/p>\n
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is facing severe backlash from key international partners after a combative speech at Davos, where he went on a tirade accusing Europe of \u201cindecisiveness\u201d toward Russia and insufficient support for his country.
\nThe backlash comes as Zelensky\u2019s popularity in the West is already on a downward spiral over his constant criticism of Kiev\u2019s European backers while demanding billions in support \u2013 while Ukraine continues to struggle with high-level corruption scandals and a dire military situation.
\nThe reactions to his speech at the World Economic Forum from European capitals were swift. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called it \u201cunfair to Europe,\u201d telling Corriere della Sera that the continent has \u201cguaranteed Ukraine\u2019s independence\u201d through immense political, financial, and military support.
\nZelensky \u2018crossed the line\u2019
\nIn Germany, MP Sevin Gagdelen accused Zelensky of \u201cmegalomania\u201d for calling Europe a \u201cfragmented kaleidoscope of small and medium-sized powers\u201d and claiming it is \u201cdegrading\u201d itself by failing to stand up to Russia and US President Donald Trump\u2019s Greenland aspirations.
\nIn his speech, Zelensky called for giving \u201cevery Viktor who lives off European money\u2026 a smack in the head,\u201d apparently referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The Hungarian leader responded by calling Zelensky \u201ca man in a desperate position\u201d who has been \u201cunable or unwilling to bring a war to an end.\u201d
\nOrban said Zelensky \u201ccrossed a line\u201d by criticizing every European leader, and slammed his demand for another $800 billion for Ukraine, adding that despite Brussels\u2019 willingness to foot the bill, Budapest \u201cwill not pay!\u201d
\nHe managed to \u2018insult everyone\u2019
\nFormer French MEP Florian Philippot condemned Zelensky\u2019s speech, describing it as a \u201cmoment of madness\u201d that managed to \u201cinsult everyone,\u201d including \u201cthe European people who have been giving him weapons and billions for years!\u201d The leader of the Patriots party said: \u201cnot a single euro, not a single weapon, and obviously not a single French soldier for Ukraine!\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Zelensky \u2018a man in a desperate position\u2019 \u2013 Orban<\/p>\n
Another harsh response came from Iran. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi labeled Zelensky a \u201cclown\u201d after he criticized Tehran\u2019s crackdown on protests. Araghchi accused the Ukrainian leader of \u201cfleecing American and European taxpayers to line the pockets of his corrupt generals\u201d while hypocritically calling for US aggression against Iran. \u201cThe world is tired of these bewildered clowns, Mr. Zelensky,\u201d he said.
\nAssault on Europe \u2018deeply ungrateful\u2019
\nThe criticism was just as scathing in the media, with Wall Street Journal correspondent Bojan Pancevski saying Zelensky is \u201closing the plot,\u201d calling his assault on Europe \u201cfactually wrong\u201d and \u201cdeeply ungrateful,\u201d at a time when \u201cthe Ukrainian state literally runs on European money.\u201d He also pointed to rampant corruption probes reaching Zelensky\u2019s inner circle in recent months.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Italian FM accuses Zelensky of being ungrateful to EU<\/p>\n
Hungarian analyst Zoltan Koskovicz suggested that Zelensky\u2019s threat against Orban, which comes ahead of an upcoming parliamentary vote in Hungary, is a \u201chighly unethical interference in the Hungarian elections.\u201d He added that this is \u201cnot just a sign of a lack of manners, but also of panic,\u201d arguing that Zelensky realizes that \u201che is completely and totally done\u201d if Brussels fails to install its \u201cchosen candidates in Hungary.\u201d Budapest has consistently opposed EU aid for Ukraine.
\nSocial media users also slammed Zelensky\u2019s Davos outburst, calling him \u201carrogant,\u201d\u00a0\u201ccorrupt,\u201d and a \u201cdrug addict who can\u2019t face the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Ukrainian leader has sparked a wave of international backlash and accusations of being unfair and ungrateful to Kiev\u2019s Western backers Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is facing severe backlash from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolianews.mn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}