The real amount of aid provided by the U.S. is closer to $115 billion.
The claim that Ukraine owes the U.S. $500 billion has previously been rejected by Zelensky.
Trump has also vocally called for regime change not in Russia, but in Ukraine.
Donald Trump attends a meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin during the G20 summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
But Im telling you.
[President Joe] Biden said the wrong things, Trump said last week.
It was Russia that attacked Ukraine, both in 2014 and in 2022.
Zelensky has done a terrible job, his country is shattered, and millions have unnecessarily died.
Zelensky, in turn, replied that Trump was parroting Russian disinformation.
Meanwhile, Trump unabashedly gushes with admiration for Putin, describing the dictators invasion of Ukraine as very smart.
The American president vowed to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.
Although that clearly did not happen, a rehabilitation of Washingtons relations with Russia is well underway.
Once Witkoff successfully started the ball moving, Trumps next move was to call Putin.
Ukraine was not invited to be a part of the discussions.
Mechnikov National University, and a visiting professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
Its easier to pressure Kyiv than Moscow.
Zelensky, meanwhile, says Kyiv may be willing to cede ground to stop the fighting.
Fundamentally, the war in Ukraine is not going well for either of the warring parties.
Three years into the conflict, there have been nearly a million casualties, according toestimatesby U.S. officials.
Ukraines military situation is dire.
It doesnt have enough soldiers to hold the line.
The only thing preventing a collapse of defenses is that Russia, too, has been sapped of strength.
More than 1,000 Russian soldiers are killed or woundedevery day, eking out incremental gains.
But tens of thousands more are sent to the front each month, to fight and die in Ukraine.
Russia continues to advance.
As of February 24, it will be three years.
These will be the longest three days that will be remembered in Russian history.
As of December 2022, Russia controlled 17.4 percent of Ukraines territory.
Neither of these assumptions may actually be true.
Few on the Trump foreign policy team have expertise in the region.
But the first rule of the Trump administration is: Never disagree with the boss.
They now join in on Trumps attacks on Zelensky.
Were trying to help these guys …
There should be some level of gratitude here about this.
Glaringly absent from the peace process is Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg.
Kelloggs appointment was viewed positively in Kyiv.
The hope among Ukraines supporters was that Kellogg would have Trumps ear.
But administration insiders say Kellogg is viewed as too pro-Ukraine.
Ukrainians, in general, are sick of the war they never asked for in the first place.
There has never been a shortage of critics of Zelensky inside Ukraine.
Those hopes are being dashed.
I dont see him as unpredictable, I think he has been very clear in his previous statements.
He hates the European Union.
He thinks NATO is useless.
Add it all together, and it equals cutting aid for Ukraine.
They view it as a fight for survival.
