Ex-Ambassador Mikayel Minasyan Analyzes Ukraine-US Relations and Geopolitical Shifts

Former Armenian Ambassador to the Holy See, Mikayel Minasyan, has shared a sharp and thought-provoking analysis of the evolving dynamics between Ukraine, the United States, and other key players. His insights, published on his Telegram channel, shed light on the underlying tensions and geopolitical implications of the ongoing crisis.

Ambassador Minasyan mentioned: “The Trump administration, naively expecting to hold a meeting with Zelensky in the conventional format of an official meeting between heads of state, instead encountered in the White House a kind of postmodern Che Guevara—a romantic revolutionary leader who scorned formalities and traditions.  

Before the meeting, Zelensky was asked to follow a dress code. Leaks about the meeting’s preparation reveal that Zelensky was expected to behave constructively. A condition for the meeting was his readiness for peace negotiations. The resulting scandal—one in which all participants knew it was being broadcast live—was an acknowledgment of the Trump administration’s powerlessness. Powerlessness to compel Zelensky to act constructively. Powerlessness to influence his position. Powerlessness to enforce even something as minor as a dress code. And yelling at the Ukrainian Che Guevara became the only possible response.

Trump’s powerlessness was met with Zelensky’s own powerlessness—the president of a country losing lives, territory, population, and economy every day. After three years of war, Zelensky had exhausted rational arguments, relying instead on the only tool left in his arsenal—revolutionary extravagance that bordered on rudeness. Fully aware of the Trump administration’s complex attitude toward him (it was no coincidence that his involvement in the U.S. election campaign on Kamala Harris’s side was mentioned at the meeting), he failed to present a single rational argument to defend his position, opting instead for aggressive bravado over diplomatic protocol.

Europe is powerless as well, having invested the future of its economy and diplomatic authority in the Ukrainian conflict. Resolving the conflict by forcing Zelensky into peace is impossible because nearly all European leaders have burned their bridges with Russia. Continuing the war without active involvement from the Trump administration is also impossible due to a shortage of weapons. The public clash between Trump and Zelensky has reduced Europe’s room for maneuver to mere financial assistance—a step for which European leaders will face increasing scrutiny from their own voters. Europe had hoped, or at least wanted, to use Zelensky as a tool to raise the stakes in an existential game—as an icebreaker that, whether through scandal or provocation, would ultimately push the Trump administration (let’s not forget that, in European eyes, both Zelensky and Trump belong to the same breed of populists) back onto the tracks of the general left-liberal course. The failure in Washington forced Europe to acknowledge its own powerlessness.

The Ukrainian people are powerless, irreversibly losing their children, infrastructure, and country in this war. A people who believed in the TV series Servant of the People and wanted things to be better but are now facing not even the familiar “same as always,” which they might have accepted, but a catastrophe. The trajectory of Ukrainian politics after the second Maidan was inevitable. Those who fought for European values ended up with a dictatorship and a bleak (in the literal sense of the word) future. They watch helplessly as the lives of their sons become less important to Zelensky than maintaining his grip on power. And the same powerlessness comes with the realization that revolution—the only true legacy of Maidan—has outlived Ukraine itself.

Russia is powerless too, accustomed to valuing the “situation on the ground” more than public sentiment. While winning the war in Ukraine, Russia is losing hearts and failing to generate positive emotions—the most valuable asset in today’s world of meta-truth.
This is a parade of powerlessness. And no one could resist taking part in it”.