The Rupturing Trump-Zelensky Relationship Stands to Hurt Ukraine and Its European Allies
New York Times · LC · trust 49/100
Where the two presidents’ war of words will end is anybody’s guess. But if it continues, it could threaten the crucial operational help that Ukraine still gets from the United States.
Listen · 8:48 min Share full article President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida in December. Credit... Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times By Kim Barker
President Trump has long made no secret of his disdain for President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and his affinity with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. But Mr. Zelensky has always managed to hold on to some form of American support against Russia, going along with fruitless U.S.-led peace talks and heaping thanks and flattery on Mr. Trump for his “strong leadership.”
Now, in the run-up to midterm elections seen as a referendum on Mr. Trump’s presidency, their relationship seems close to a breaking point. The split poses risks to the Trump administration but more critically to Ukraine, whose military still gets crucial operational help from the United States.
For Kyiv, the blows came one after the next in just one very bad week.
Mr. Trump blamed the war launched by Russia against Ukraine almost five years ago for rising diesel prices, instead of what energy experts call the real cause: the war that Mr. Trump launched against Iran. He temporarily lifted U.S. sanctions on Russian diesel sales in what is likely to be a failed attempt to lower those prices. He unilaterally declared an “ENERGY CEASEFIRE” in the war that only helped Russia and hurt Ukraine. And he called for a new Ukrainian president.
By midweek, the Ukrainian military was reporting sudden unexplained restrictions on its use of Starshield , a military version of the satellite internet system Starlink that is crucial to Ukraine’s battlefield communications. Elon Musk, the on-again, off-again good friend of Mr. Trump and the chief executive of SpaceX, which operates Starlink, suggested that only the U.S. military and ultimately Mr. Trump could limit Starshield’s usage. Mr. Musk then also called for a new Ukrainian president.
After initially holding back, a visibly angry Mr. Zelensky said he felt betrayed as Mr. Trump openly sided with a Russian leader who is killing Ukrainian civilians by the dozen. Defying Mr. Trump’s cease-fire declaration, Mr. Zelensky said Ukraine would restart its attacks on Russian oil refineries. Asked by the journalist Piers Morgan to clarify whether he believed Ukraine was “losing” the United States, Mr. Zelensky replied simply: “Yes.”
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