Three years ago, Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin, made an aggressive move by invading Ukraine. During this time of conflict, the supposed champion, Joe Biden, took center stage to ‘stand up for freedom,’ or so he claimed. His approach was to isolate Russia while simultaneously supporting Ukraine with expansive monetary aid. This is where the story takes an ironic twist. When Biden would have had us believe that America is the nation to stand up to bullies, we eventually see a stark shift in tactics.
Our current administration, under the leadership of Donald Trump, took a different strategic path than Biden’s philosopy of dealing with Russia and Ukraine. Unlike the previous administration’s mantra, ‘nothing about Ukraine, without Ukraine,’ Trump’s approach might leave you surprised. He gave Ukraine the cold shoulder, a move that left even our allies in a state of shock. This sudden cut-off of Ukraine came not only from just Trump but also from his circle of advisors.
Trump was not shy about expressing his views on Ukraine, even going as far as assigning blame to its leaders for Putin’s invasion. This then led to Ukraine being sidelined in the early discussions with Russia – all of this providing a major jolt to American allies. Adding insult to injury, Trump often ridiculed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in one instance even branding him a ‘dictator.’ The move was, unsurprisingly, condemned by European leaders and resulted in a backlash from U.S. lawmakers, who are in favor of Ukraine.
The shift in dialogue from the Trump administration came in the form of a push towards the conversation on how to end the war. A stalemate has prevailed for over a year, casting a grim shadow on the battleground, but Trump’s advisors believe he deserves credit for this negotiating shift. In an unusual move, they refused to discuss whether Trump held Putin or Zelenskyy more responsible for the Russian invasion during a White House briefing.
The frustrations of the Trump administration, especially Trump himself, were hinted at rather strongly with Ukraine’s present leadership. Trump’s advisors went on to say that the Ukrainian President was living in a ‘disinformation bubble.’ This bubble, they believed, was being fed by the narrative of the invading forces. Their narrative contrastingly painted the image of a standoff that resembled the trench warfare of World War I, indicating a blame share between both the warring parties.
In a bold and surprising move last year, Ukraine managed to seize control of territory in the western region of Kursk. On the other hand, Russia announced that it had regained much of that territory, even obtaining command over approximately 75% of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson regions of eastern Ukraine, along with almost the entirety of the Luhansk region. This is in addition to the Black Sea region of Crimea, which Russia took over in 2014.
According to Ukraine, around 20,000 Ukrainian children had been forcibly taken to Russia, with just a small portion successfully returned. This aside, the total impact on civilian lives remains unknown since Ukraine does not release casualty figures and lacks access to Russian-occupied areas of the country that make up 20% of its territory.
Trump’s relationship with Zelenskyy is no idyllic story, with a history marked by an infamous phone call in 2019. Given the timing of the call, just two months after Zelenskyy had assumed the presidency, this event was nothing short of a political spectacle. Shortly after, Zelenskyy found himself in Pennsylvania at an ammunition plant, further stoking tensions with a rash comment that Trump did not know how to end the war.
Just ahead of the U.S. elections last fall, Zelenskyy’s fiery remark was still fresh. However, he seemed to make an attempt to reduce political tensions at a New York meeting that took place soon after. The leaders communicated again following the election and even held a meeting in Paris in December.
In a tit-for-tat move, Trump voiced out against Zelenskyy for refusing a deal to provide the U.S. with access to Ukraine’s mineral resources, a trade-off for aid. Ukraine’s leader responded with equal aggression, stating that Trump was buying into disinformation.
Trump boldly demanded $500 billion in Ukraine’s minerals as payment for U.S. aid, a proposition that met sharp resistance from Zelenskyy. According to the Ukrainian leader, the assistance provided by the U.S. was nowhere near the gargantuan sum Trump demanded.
The underlying facet of this entire narrative revolves around the stark contrast between the approaches of two U.S. administrations – the Biden versus Trump era. Where Biden would have us believe that America stands up to bullies, the reality under Trump’s administration paints an entirely different, more realistic picture of international politics.