(Kiev) If the head of American diplomacy wants to send a message of support to Kiev, play Rockin' in the free world In a bar in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday evening, many Ukrainians considered his performance Wednesday inappropriate amid the Russian offensive in the northeast of the country.
“One word is enough to describe US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s evening in Kiev yesterday: inappropriate,” Svetlana Matvienko, director of a non-governmental organization specializing in policy analysis, said on Facebook.
Like many of her compatriots, she says she is “disturbed” by this performance while the Kharkiv region, in the country's northeast, has been “destroyed” by the week-long Russian offensive, and condemns the “complete lack of understanding of the situation.” “Sympathy” from American officials.
In a two-day surprise visit to Kiev, where he continued to show American support for Ukraine, Antony Blinken wrapped up an intense day of official meetings on Tuesday, including with President Volodymyr Zelensky, playing guitar and humming this legendary song in a downtown basement bar. .
“I know this is a very difficult time. Your soldiers and your citizens, especially in the northeast, in Kharkiv, are suffering greatly. But they must know, you must know, that the United States is with you.”
For Bogdan Yaremenko, a presidential party lawmaker and former diplomat, the context was poorly chosen after months of delays in US military aid to Ukraine weakened Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.
“The message is not complicated, but it is not getting through,” he said on Facebook.
“With all respect, this is wrong,” commented the former Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Valery Chaly, in the same context.
Antony Blinken's musical performance also angered some Ukrainians on social media, as some Internet users criticized US officials for the slow pace of US military aid.
“A typical visit of communications failure,” sums up Sergei Sidorenko, editor of the influential news site Evropeïska Pravda (“European Truth” in French, editor’s note), on Facebook. “The public signals (sent) did not work as their authors intended.”
“Total coffee aficionado. Travel buff. Music ninja. Bacon nerd. Beeraholic.”
