In a bid to upstage Vladimir Putin’s annual Victory Day parade in Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited top European leaders to attend an anti-Russian “show of unity” on May 9 in Kyiv. The results? A wave of polite rejections, scheduling conflicts, and deafening silence from key EU powers—a stark sign of crumbling enthusiasm for Zelensky’s war narrative and his endless demands for support.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha extended the invitation during a gathering of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg earlier this month, urging his EU counterparts to “show our unity and resolve in the face of the biggest aggression in Europe since the Second World War.”
The event, to be staged on the same day as Putin’s traditional military parade in Moscow, was meant to project defiance and revive flagging Western solidarity with Ukraine.
But it appears European leaders aren’t playing along.
Germany’s incoming Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk have all declined to attend the Kyiv event. Tusk and Macron will instead head to Nancy, France, to ink a bilateral security pact—notably without Ukraine. Meanwhile, Britain’s Keir Starmer will be in Oslo for a defense summit, and Merz reportedly won’t go unless there’s a full parade of EU elites at his side.
Despite pressure from Brussels, including warnings from the EU foreign policy chief and Estonia’s foreign ministry to Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić that attending Russia’s event would “end his EU accession bid,” not a single major Western head of state has committed to stand beside Zelensky in the city of Lviv, in western Ukraine.
It’s still possible that a handful of foreign ministers may be sent as deputies.
What was supposed to be a symbolic counterweight to Moscow’s show of force is fast becoming a diplomatic embarrassment for Zelensky.
Putin’s government has announced a unilateral ceasefire from May 8–11, coinciding with the Moscow celebration. Unsurprisingly, and not without reason, Zelensky isn’t buying it, accusing the Kremlin of trying to “manipulate the world” and “deceive the United States.”
In a statement on social media, Zelensky fumed: “For some reason, everyone is supposed to wait until May 8 before ceasing fire—just to provide Putin with silence for his parade.”
We in Ukraine never wanted a single second of this war. Back on March 11, we responded positively to the American proposal for a full ceasefire. We made our own proposal to Russia – bilaterally – to halt strikes at least on civilian targets. We also proposed making the Easter… pic.twitter.com/Tp9EiF0yFp
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) April 28, 2025
But while Kyiv cries foul, European leaders appear increasingly fatigued by the endless war footing, the mounting financial drain, and Zelensky’s permanent crisis diplomacy. His plan to host leaders from a “coalition of the willing” to discuss post-ceasefire security guarantees for Ukraine looks increasingly hollow, especially as NATO capitals quietly hedge their bets and avoid further escalation.
Despite billions in Western aid, Ukraine remains mired in battlefield stalemate and domestic instability, while trust in Zelensky’s government decreases both at home and abroad. As European economies grapple with inflation, immigration, and energy crises fueled in part by the war, the appetite to indulge Kyiv’s PR plays appears to have finally run out.
The optics of May 9 may now speak louder than any speech: Putin will hold his parade; Europe’s leaders will stay home; and Zelensky will stand mostly alone, increasingly seen as a symbol of the West’s overreach and the globalist elite’s failed proxy war strategy.
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