For most of the world, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is the face of Ukrainian resistance to a 19-month-old Russian invasion with no end in sight. As such, he has made the pitch for continued Western resolve and support his top priority everywhere he goes.

So, while his launch of a "strategic partnership" alongside Romanian President Klaus Iohannis this week was good news for Kyiv, it might have been overshadowed by what didn't happen in Bucharest.

Faced with threats from nationalist, pro-Russian lawmakers of something "bad" happening if they "caught" Zelenskiy in the Romanian Parliament, official plans were abandoned for the Ukrainian head of state to give a speech to lawmakers.

Iohannis and other Romanian officials were tight-lipped about the climbdown, except to cite time constraints and a "busy" schedule.

At a press conference at the presidential residence, Zelenskiy -- a popular TV comic before becoming a wartime president -- joked diplomatically that while "you understand that I don't have a problem with speeches, in any country…I haven't prepared any speech, with all due respect."

"I'm not ready to do it," he said. "But next time, I assure you that I'll come and give a speech, with great pleasure."But the timing was particularly awkward, with fresh talk of Ukraine war fatigue among Western allies fueled by Congressional wavering in the United States and government positions seemingly hardening in Warsaw and Bratislava.

Valentin Naumescu, a professor of international relations at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj and director of the Center for the Study of the European Union's External Relations and Global Order (EUXGLOB Center), said the cancellation represented an "abandonment of the discourse" and was "extremely depressing" for Romania in particular.

"It created the impression of a vulnerable and weak country where nationalists, extremists, and pro-Russians impose their agenda," Naumescu said. "We are witnessing an increase in anti-Western [sentiment] that manages to intimidate the leadership at the top of the Romanian state, the fundamental institutions of democracy."

Romania shares over 600 kilometers of border with Ukraine, including land and maritime boundaries. Along with a handful of other so-called frontline EU and NATO states, Romania is a key alternate export route for Ukrainian goods otherwise blockaded by Russia's Black Sea naval forces.


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