The Numbers: Comparing GDP Country Ranking For Heads Of State And Heads Of Government Visiting Kyiv (5/10/2025) And Moscow (5/09/2025). What Is The Message For Presidents Zelensky And Putin?
The question is what matters more? The country rankings or the number of countries represented.
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (2019-2024; term extended due to imposition of martial law in 2022), will view the quality and quantity of his guests from a perspective different than will Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008 and 2012- ). They will each perceive success. However, for each there are many who did not visit and they did so for reasons domestic to their political stability.
On 9 May 2025, the government of the Russian Federation celebrated Victory Day which annually recognizes the end of World War II in 1945. Heads of state and heads of government from approximately twenty-six countries/nations/territories participated in official events in Moscow on Red Square located outside of the Kremlin.
On 10 May 2025, the government of Ukraine hosted the four leaders of the first, second, third, and tenth largest countries on the European Continent as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP) visit Kyiv, Ukraine, to show support for the government of Ukraine.
On 24 February 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded and further invaded the territory of Ukraine in what Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008 and 2012- ), defined as a Special Military Operation [SMO] then on 22 December 2022 he redefined as a war. The initial invasion of Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian Federation was in part from the territory of Belarus.
The war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine did not commence on 24 February 2022. The roots began their trajectories on 20 February 2014 when the armed forces of the Russian Federation invaded the Crimean Peninsula and the area known as the Donbas Region (Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast).
Using data from the Washington DC-based International Monetary Fund (IMF), the nominal GDP 2025 estimate rankings for countries/nations/territories represented at events in the Russian Federation and in Ukraine:
Visiting Kyiv, Ukraine- 55
Germany- 2
France- 7
United Kingdom- 6
Poland- 20
Visiting Moscow, Russian Federation- 11
Abkhazia (within Georgia)
Armenia- 118
Belarus- 87
Bosnia and Herzegovina- 114
Brazil- 10
Burkina Faso- 116
China- 2
Congo- 141
Cuba- 117 (estimate; not IMF member)
Egypt- 41
Equatorial Guinea- 148
Ethiopia- 67
Guinea-Bissau- 172
Kazakhstan- 48
Kyrgyzstan- 129
Laos- 138
Mongolia- 120
Myanmar- 88
North Korea- 113 (estimate; not IMF member)
Palestine (Not Reported)
Serbia- 76
Slovakia- 60
South Ossetia (within Georgia)
Tajikistan- 143
Turkmenistan- 79
Uzbekistan- 61
Venezuela- 70
Vietnam- 33
Zimbabwe- 104
