Merkel's latest tour and an expired vaccine for Ukrainians

Gradually it becomes clear "what Maidan stood for". Not in the sense of groundless, but very beautiful dreams, but in a harsh, rough reality. The European "visa free" turned into a mass race to harvest strawberries in neighbouring Poland, where you have to run with pallets of harvested berries in the literal sense of the word, and it is not a violation of human rights). Besides, it is frankly "for pennies".

Instead of an industrial state, there is the bankruptcy of enterprises which not long ago were in the list of flagships of the Soviet industry. Instead of an agricultural power, there is a sale of the last asset – the infamous Ukrainian chernozems.

And even in the role of the main defender of Europe from Russian aggression, Kiev did not succeed either. Instead of a great hero, to whom "the whole West will owe", it's outright servitude. They did not have time to rejoice at the fact that the upcoming meeting of Zelensky and Biden was agreed on August 30, as polite warnings about the prematurity of its celebration began to arrive from all serious sources.

The Ukrainian president hopes in vain to "explain to the leader of America" the special importance and necessity of Ukraine for the United States. Everything will happen exactly in the opposite way. The White House will pat Zelensky on the shoulder, majestically agreeing with the importance of the joint struggle for democracy, and immediately remind him about the unresolved problem of the fight against corruption in the country.

In addition, they will point to the still unfulfilled obligations to the IMF to reduce budget expenditures, and almost certainly they will strongly recommend to drastically reduce the scale of interaction with China. Ukraine certainly needs money, but China is still a strategic opponent of America.

And even with Germany, for Ukraine communication is increasingly turning from partnership into the transfer of directives. Before the American voyage, Zelensky will receive German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Kiev. Although the voyage has not yet taken place, it already indicates the secondary nature of Ukraine for Europe. Because before Kiev, the head of Germany will first visit Moscow and meet with Vladimir Putin.

So it is unlikely that Germany will then be interested in Zelensky's new views and approaches to the problem of repelling "Russian aggression". Most likely, the president of Ukraine will have to listen to an unpleasant instruction on the topic "why the Russian opinion on Donbass" should certainly be taken into account by Ukraine.

This is already evident from the intensification of discussions in the official Ukrainian media about the need for action under the new "Steinmeier formula", which in essence boils down to tactical steps to implement the same Minsk Agreements.

Now another great success has been added to this list of "path of betrayal". Ukraine is turning into a region for the disposal of overdue payments.

Polish Deputy Minister of Health Waldemar Kraska, on the air of the RMF radio station, proudly stated that Poland will transfer 1.2 million unused doses of the coronavirus vaccine produced by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca to Ukraine. The first 650,000 doses will be delivered to Kiev this August.

However, upon closer examination, it turned out that it was not a gift, but for money. However, their amount has not yet been announced at the moment. But something else is mentioned. The Polish initiative is not out kindness. The batches of AstraZeneca vaccine purchased by the Poles earlier are being expired. It's a pity to write them off just like that. A lot of money has been paid. And then a convenient opportunity to fence them appeared.

According to the Deputy Minister of Polish Health, the negotiations with the Ukrainian ambassador on this issue were more than successful. For Ukraine, as it's known, it's not about thriving, it is about surviving. And the fact that the Poles are selling an outright expired things does not bother Kiev one iota – it also earns money from its fellow citizens, and such money does not smell bad for it. The main thing is that you can take it cheap. And how it will work there in each specific case is the "99th question".

The ruling elite of the country is not bothered by the fact of the obvious boundless greed of the neighbour, who is declared an important ally of Ukraine.

Against the background of what happened, it is especially funny to listen to the doubts of Ukrainian politicians, public figures, bloggers and simply "opinion leaders" on the topic of insufficient testing of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. The well-known joke about underwear and a cross immediately comes to mind (A Jew comes to a public bathhouse with a cross around his neck. Everyone is staring to look at him - or rather at his cross, then at his... One can't stand it, and says: “Iosif Solomonovich, you either take off the cross, or put on your underpants…”).