The White House’s latest punitive move against Kyiv will lead to ‘joy in Moscow,’ Ukrainian commentators say.
Ukraine has reacted with disdain and rage to Donald Trump's decision to
suspend all US military assistance, claiming that the move represented a
betrayal by an ally and would assist Russia in bombing and killing more
civilians. Deliveries of ammunition and vehicles have ceased, including
shipments agreed to when Joe Biden was president. Ukrainians said the biggest
impact was likely to be on Ukraine’s ability to defend itself from Russian air
attacks, which have escalated in recent weeks.
Andriy Zagorodnyuk, the former defense minister of Ukraine, claimed that the
White House was attempting to "bully" Volodymyr Zelenskyy into
accepting a poor peace deal on Moscow's brutal terms. He predicted that if Kyiv
did not agree, US military aid would be halted permanently.
“I think this is extremely wrong on all levels,” Zagorodnyuk told the
Guardian. “Also, it will not work with Ukraine. Ukraine will never bend to
bullies and bullying. It’s as simple as that.”
In a video address recorded from Kyiv before Monday night’s announcement,
Zelenskyy repeated his calls for a “just” settlement of the war. It followed a
hostile social media post by Trump claiming that Ukraine’s president did not
want peace. “We need peace, true and honest peace—not endless war,” Zelenskyy
said.
He made clear that any deal had to come with security guarantees—the same
position that triggered anger from Trump and the US vice president, JD Vance,
when Zelenskyy met them on Friday in the Oval Office.
Zelenskyy said security guarantees were “essential.”. He pointed out that it
was a lack of guarantees that allowed Russia to seize Crimea in 2014 and begin
a covert takeover of the Donbas region. Subsequently, it led to Russia’s
full-scale 2022 invasion and to its continuing war, he said.
Without mentioning the US, Zelenskyy added, “The world sees this, and the
world acknowledges it. Today, we continued our work with European partners on a
special diplomatic and security architecture that can bring us closer to
peace.”
Ukrainian journalists and commentators noted bitterly that Trump had so far
demanded no concessions from Vladimir Putin. The White House’s latest punitive
move against Ukraine would lead to “joy in Moscow,” they said.
Instead of acting as a mediator, Trump had sought to squeeze and humiliate
Ukraine and force it into territorial concessions that would benefit the
Kremlin, they said. Russia says it has “annexed” four Ukrainian regions,
including cities it does not control, such as Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
There was general agreement that Trump had already made the decision to
reduce US aidbeforeo his tense meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday and that the
argument had been deliberately sparked and was now being used as a pretext. The
US was actively aiding Russia, at the expense of Ukraine, it was suggested.
“This isn’t a peace plan; it’s a trap to force our surrender,” Maria
Avdeeva, a Ukrainian security expert, posted on BlueSky. She added, “Siding
with Russia never helped anyone. Putin isn’t negotiating—he wants our
capitulation. Ukraine will remain strong.”
Volodymyr Yermolenko, a philosopher and essayist, acknowledged that ordinary
Ukrainians would suffer greatly from the consequences. Even before the
shutdown, Ukrainian cities and towns were under massive bombardment from drones
and ballistic missiles.
“This war is a slaughter. The Russians are mostly killing defenseless
civilians. By halting assistance (primarily air defense), Trump is helping to
escalate this slaughter even further,” Yermolenko wrote.
Some observers expressed optimism that Ukraine had been written off before
and would prevail against the odds once again. They noted that Putin originally
expected to conquer Ukraine within three days back in 2022. Three years later,
his troops are still fighting and bogged down in an attritional war.
“We shall endure this as well,” the writer and blogger Ilia Ponomarenko
posted.
