Trump echoes Russia as he flips US position on Ukraine

If there were any lingering doubts about Donald Trump’s view of the Ukraine war and America’s support of Kyiv’s fight against Russia, he put them to rest in stark terms on Wednesday.

Lashing out at Volodymyr Zelensky, who less than three years ago received a standing ovation in Congress for his efforts to resist Russia’s invasion, the US president labelled Ukraine’s leader a “dictator” and accused him of corruption.

He said Zelensky wanted to “keep the gravy train” of foreign aid running, a day after he appeared to blame Ukraine – not Russia – for starting the war.

“Zelensky better move fast, or he is not going to have a country left,” Trump wrote.

It’s been just under a week since Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a lengthy phone conversation. Now Trump is echoing Russia’s talking points about the war and the Ukrainian president.

Russia’s ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin praised the Trump administration’s approach.

“For the first time we have noticed that they [the US] are not simply saying that this is Russian propaganda and disinformation. They have listened and they hear what we’re saying,” he told BBC Newsnight.

This sudden change in US foreign policy is indeed dramatic, but it should not be surprising. Trump has been charting this course for years.

His latest comments reflect an American president who is wielding total authority over his party and the full power of government to turn a transactional “America First” foreign policy view into reality.

Trump’s latest broadside against Zelensky came after the Ukrainian leader publicly rejected an American bid to gain access to – and profits from – Ukrainian minerals.

“That’s not a serious conversation,” Zelensky said. “I can’t sell our state.”

The US president seems serious, however, about reducing American military commitments to Europe and pivoting resources instead toward containing China.

His willingness to upend international norms and push the limits of US power on the global stage parallel his domestic efforts to slash the federal government and expand presidential authority. And, at least for the moment, there seems to be little interest among Trump’s own party or the larger public in opposing him.

After Trump’s Wednesday social media posts, a few Senate Republicans expressed dismay.

“I certainly would not call President Zelensky a dictator,” Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski said.

Susan Collins of Maine said she disagreed with Trump, as did John Kennedy of Louisiana, who added that Putin was a “gangster”.

Fresh off a trip to Kyiv, Thom Tillis of North Carolina said the Ukraine war was “the responsibility of one human being on the face of the planet: Vladimir Putin”.

If the past is a guide, however, those words within his own party will not translate into any tangible attempt to redirect Trump’s foreign policy. Presidents have broad powers in international relations, and Trump has been clear about his views on Ukraine for years. In November’s election, a plurality of American voters re-elected him.

Trump has consistently blamed the Ukraine war on Biden administration weakness, and promised that ending it would be easy.

And while his earlier criticisms of Zelensky were not as sharp as this week, he regularly claimed that the Ukrainian president was adept at convincing Congress to send his country money.

Trump has a long, uneven history with Zelensky, having been impeached in 2019 for withholding arms shipments to Ukraine in an attempt to pressure the Ukrainian leader to open an investigation into his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.

Zelensky’s aggressive pitch for foreign aid, and the way the American left celebrated him as a hero, also may not have helped his cause with Trump.

And the Ukrainian’s sometimes blunt, confrontational style – including his decision to step up his criticism of Trump – has not helped his case with the US leader.

“The idea that Zelensky is going to change the president’s mind by badmouthing him in public media, everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration,” Vice-President JD Vance said in a recent interview.

Trump has also been consistent in his solicitous views toward Putin and the Russian perspective. He said Putin was a “genius” just days after he launched his invasion of Ukraine. At a July 2018 US-Russia summit in Helsinki, Trump said he had no reason to doubt Putin’s insistence, counter to US intelligence findings, that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 US election.

In Trump’s first term, his foreign policy team included some senior officials more sceptical of Russian intentions – like John Bolton, Mike Pompeo and John Kelly – who were…