KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed European leaders’ commitment to ensuring Ukraine’s seat at the negotiating table, even as Moscow continues to signal its discontent. The pledge came during a Brussels summit that saw diplomats openly discussing frameworks for a post-war settlement.
But leaked photos from inside the planning chamber have drawn attention for an unusual detail: a small plastic child’s chair labeled “Russia” in rainbow-colored crayon, positioned slightly apart from the main conference table. According to one EU official, the seat was chosen “to match the tone of Moscow’s recent behavior.”
Participants say the gesture was both symbolic and practical. “They wanted to avoid the optics of Russia flipping the table over,” one unnamed aide quipped. A report in Le Monde claims the chair was bolted to the floor after a previous session ended with “unnecessary redecorating” by an agitated envoy.
While the Kremlin dismissed the seating arrangement as “childish provocation,” NATO sources confirmed that high-level negotiators kept their composure throughout, even when a junior aide placed a juice box and animal crackers at the seat moments before cameras entered the room.
Zelensky, when asked about the chair, smiled and said: “If the shoe fits, you let them wear it. If the chair fits… you bolt it down.”