‘Heart-wrenching’: Kilkenny TD reflects on Zelenskyy meeting as peace talks continue

A month on from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Dublin, peace talks are ongoing in Paris this week as Ukrainian, American and European delegates iron out issues with a potential ceasefire agreement. 

The declaration signed by France and the United Kingdom pledging to put troops on the ground to protect any peace deal and the €125m promised to the country by the Irish Government shows that strong support still remains among European allies despite unpredictable actions from the American side becoming more common.

Carlow/Kilkenny TD and Leas Ceann Comhairle, John McGuinness, met with Zelenskyy during his visit and was moved by his conversation on the war with the Ukrainian premier.

“I have to say it’s a heart-wrenching, horrendous story of lives that are being stolen from young people and the elderly being treated badly”, Deputy McGuinness said.

“There's a humanitarian crisis and he was very forthcoming in his description of day-to-day life out there, the decisions that he has to make, and then his engagement with Russia, America and Europe, and he continued to emphasise for Europe to stay engaged and promote peace”, he added.

President Zelenskyy addressed both houses of the Oireachtas and also visited Áras an Uachtaráín, but despite his busy schedule, he was being regularly updated on a critical meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff.

The ongoing high-stakes meeting and a number of drone incursions led to a sense of tension running throughout proceedings as a slice of the war came to Ireland.

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“What struck me most about the visit was that there’s numerous security and bodyguards around him who bring all their own IT and security equipment,” Deputy McGuinness outlined.

“They tend to live their lives not trusting anyone and messages continue to come in to him as he’s going about these visits to drum up support from the European Union so you can see the theatre of war being managed in terms of the live actions of President Zelenskyy”.

After almost four years of fighting since the Russian invasion, information fatigue had set in in some corners, but the visit of the Ukrainian delegation seemed to revitalise Irish support for the country, a key aim of the numerous foreign visits made by Zelenskyy to allies.

With the Paris peace talks continuing and the Trump administration announcing new sanctions on countries purchasing Russian oil, an end to the war seems closer now than at any other point, though there is still quite a gap to be bridged between parties as heavy fighting continues.

Concluding, Deputy McGuinness called on all sides to keep up the momentum towards resolution but described the challenges in achieving this.

“All those visits have a purpose, yes, to talk about peace and encouraging Europe, but also to try and keep the war in Ukraine on the front pages, that seems to be an essential part of focusing the world on the issue and what needs to be done”.

“It’s difficult for leaders in countries like that to lead and stay focused because of the number of issues they have to deal with every day. The war is one thing all on its own, then you have public perception of that which has to be described and engaged with in order to keep it in the news. Then there’s pressure out of all of that for peace, and what does peace mean?”

“We achieved it in Northern Ireland and I hope all of them get together and try to bring some normality to the lives of the people out there”.

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