Keep in mind the Ukrainians who are dying as you read this.
US President Donald Trump’s purblind decision to cut off military aid to Ukraine, to sever access to US intelligence, and even suspend commercial satellite imagery for Ukraine’s defenders makes it more difficult for them to protect their homeland.
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
Russia’s persistent missile attacks on critical civilian infrastructure wreak havoc daily. Anticipating enemy maneuvers on the eastern front’s battlefields is less reliable. Men, women and children are being traumatized, mutilated or killed because of President Trump’s vacancy and vanity. By hobbling Ukraine instead of restraining Russia, he is complicit in Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine and Ukrainians.
Why should you care?
Valery Zaluzhny, the former Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces and now Ambassador of Ukraine to Great Britain has answered bluntly, berating Trump for “destroying” the rules-based international order.
Intent on rebooting diplomatic relations with Moscow while pressuring Kyiv into accepting a Carthaginian peace (“Carthage must be destroyed”), even offering sanctions relief to Vladimir Putin, a wanted war criminal, Trump telegraphs indifference to the Ukrainians perishing while he plays the peacemaker, coveting the Nobel Peace Prize. His actions disqualify him. Donald Trump is no Martin Luther King Jr., no Jimmy Carter, and much less a Barack Obama.
‘A Remarkable Breakthrough’ – Trump Will ‘Likely’ Speak With Putin About Ceasefire
In the Trumpian new world order, America has aligned with rather peculiar allies. During his first presidency, in January 2018, Trump indulged in provocatively racist language while discussing immigration, referring to El Salvador, Haiti, and Africa as “shithole countries.” Whether he understands Africa is a continent and not a country is uncertain.
How does his earlier bigotry relate to what happened at the UN General Assembly on Feb. 24, 2025? To mark the third anniversary of the Russian war against Ukraine, a resolution unambiguously identified Russia as the aggressor state (which happens to be true). Yet Trump’s people voted against it, siding instead with Russia, North Korea, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Hungary, Israel, Mali, the Marshall Islands, Nicaragua, Niger, Palau and Sudan, “shithole” countries aplenty, at least for those MAGA-men (and women) who share President Trump’s prejudices.
Meanwhile, more fastidious diplomats, including the ambassadors of Iran, India, China, South Africa and Brazil, abstained. The final vote was 93 for, 18 against, and 63 abstentions. The motion passed even after Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, bleated that his country was supposed to abstain, making a “mistake” by voting for Ukraine because he was “probably tired.” No doubt. Following Trump’s tilts can be enervating, even in Belgrade.
The security architecture of Europe must be redrawn. The US is no longer reliable.
Europeans are worried. Addressing the French Senate on March 4 Claude Malhuret observed bluntly: “Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened… This is a tragedy for the free world… The defeat of Ukraine would be the defeat of Europe.”
President Trump does not mind. This self-described “master dealmaker” confuses appeasement with peace. The legacy of this Chamberlain of our times will be one of infamy.
The first Secretary-General of NATO, Lord Ismay, quipped that NATO’s purpose was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.” President Trump is taking the Americans out, inviting the Russians in and keeping everyone else down, irreparably gutting the alliance.
While he boasted how he restored Winston Churchill’s bust to the Oval Office for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Feb. 27 visit, a more cognizant man might have reflected on how Churchill regarded NATO as “the best, if not the only, hope of peace in our time.” But Trump is no more a historian than his friend Putin, who believes in the fiction of a “historical unity” between Russians and Ukrainians, a settler colonial yarn spun in Tsarist times and regurgitated by Russian fascists to this day.
The security architecture of Europe must be redrawn. The US is no longer reliable. Accelerating Ukraine’s membership in the European Union will secure the loyalty of a battle-hardened army. Ukrainians have proven they never were, are not now, and never will be Russians. Deploying these tried and true warriors to defend the “gates of Europe” is smart.
Aladdin’s lamp
Having failed to bamboozle Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into signing a “raw earth” (sic!) agreement with the United States, Trump threw a tantrum. Watching Appalachian hillbilly JD Vance’s contortions and Trump’s subsequent distortions reminded me of “The Story of Aladdin” from “The Arabian Nights.” An evil magician pretends to be the orphaned Aladdin’s caring uncle.
In truth, this imposter wants to exploit the lad to secure a magic lamp hidden beneath the earth, a treasure he can’t otherwise source. When Aladdin retrieves the lamp but won’t hand it over before he is first pulled out of the cavern, the enraged sorcerer entombs him. Trump’s pique at Ukraine is similar.
But Ukraine will not surrender. From the start of this war, Ukrainians have proven impressive at improvising, whenever and however they must. They will do so again. Many will die before victory is won. Those shedding their blood will never forget the foe, nor forgive those who let them down.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
