Marco Levytsky, Editorial Writer.
Last week we started our editorial with the line “Just when you thought US President Donald Trump could not sink any lower in his appalling betrayal of Ukraine… Well, guess what? He outdid himself once again. There are not enough words in the English language to describe the despicable public humiliation of the embattled hero of what’s left of the Free World, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that Trump orchestrated in their Oval Office meeting on February 28.
In a display of unprecedented diplomatic boorishness, Trump and J.D. Vance took turns berating Zelenskyy in front of live TV cameras.
Trump raged at Zelenskyy for pointing out that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is an aggressor who threatens the security of the world – the United States included. “You’re in no position to dictate that,” Trump bellowed. Continuing on, he bluntly told Zelenskyy his deal with Putin was an offer the Ukrainian president could not refuse: “You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.”
When Zelenskyy pointed out this was not a card game, Trump retorted, “Yeah, you’re playing cards. You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War Three.”
In what many agree was a premeditated ambush, Vance jumped in, haranguing Zelenskyy for being ungrateful and claiming that he had not yet thanked the US enough for the support it has provided – which is demonstrably untrue. First, Zelenskyy has thanked the US and other allies profusely and repeatedly. Second, the US has provided about $120 billion – not the $350 billion that Trump claims – and most of that was spent in the United States, providing jobs for workers in the defence sector. What’s more, Ukrainians have paid with their lives; in doing so, they have prevented Russia from invading other countries and have seriously degraded Moscow’s military capabilities.
As a result of the Oval Office debacle, a scheduled joint press conference was scrapped and Zelenskyy was rudely ordered to leave the White House by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who once was a firm supporter of Ukraine but now seems to have shamelessly sacrificed those principles to curry favour with Trump. After the doomed meeting, Zelenskyy immediately departed for London for meetings with European leaders. The planned agreement on providing US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals was left unsigned. Trump then posted online that his counterpart was not welcome back until he was “ready for peace”—which some also read as ready to capitulate.
Little that came out of this meeting serves to benefit Ukraine or the United States. The only winner here was Russia, where leaders and commentators framed the event as a success. Typical of these was the comment from Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council and a former Russian president who called Zelenskyy an “insolent pig” who had received “a proper slap down in the Oval Office.”
March 2 in London, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hosted a one-day summit in which leaders from NATO, the European Union and 16 countries, including Canada, met with Zelensky. At a press conference following the conclusion of the summit, Starmer announced that the leaders had agreed on four important steps:
• Keep military aid flowing into Ukraine while the war is ongoing, and increase economic pressure on Russia;
• Ensure any lasting peace secures Ukraine’s sovereignty and security and that Ukraine is at the table for any peace talks;
• Aim to deter, in the event of a peace deal, any future invasion by Russia into Ukraine;
• Establish a “coalition of the willing” to defend Ukraine and guarantee peace in the country.
Sir Keir also announced an additional £1.6bn (C$2.9bn) of UK export finance to buy more than 5,000 air defence missiles. This comes on top of a £2.2bn loan to provide more military aid to Ukraine backed by profits from frozen Russian assets. The loan will be ensured by frozen Russian assets’
The Prime Minister did not state which countries had agreed to join this coalition of the willing but said that those who had committed would intensify planning with real urgency. The UK, he said, would back its commitment with “boots on the ground, and planes in the air”.
“Europe must do the heavy lifting,” he said, before adding that the agreement would need US backing and had to include Russia but that Moscow could not be allowed to dictate terms.
As Starmer spoke, Zelensky flew to Sandringham for a meeting with King Charles where he was “warmly received”, royal sources told the BBC.
The King has previously expressed support for Ukraine, saying the country had experienced “indescribable aggression” following Russia’s “unprovoked attack on their land” and adding that the Ukrainian people have shown “truly remarkable courage and resilience in the face of such human tragedy.”
Sir Keir still believes that he may be able to reconcile Zelenskyy and Trump and noted during his press conference that he does not consider the US to be an unreliable ally. “There are no two countries as closely aligned as our two countries,” he said.
We appreciate Sir Keir’s well-intentioned efforts and hope that he may prevail in changing Trump’s position, but, based upon all that has taken place since his inauguration, we doubt that will happen. Trump started peace negotiations with Putin by excluding Ukraine and the EU from talks. He joined Russia in voting against a UN resolution condemning Russian aggression that even China abstained from. During the Oval Office meeting, Trump whined that Putin and he “went through a hell of a lot” in what he termed “a phony witch hunt” engineered by the Democrats during his first election cycle. And he has categorically and repeatedly stated that the United States will not provide any security guarantees.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has put the situation most succinctly. Following the summit, he noted that the European countries have enormous potential, but due to disunity, they rely on the United States rather than their own strength. In this context, Europe must step up and make efforts to ensure peace not through supporting Ukraine’s surrender but through supporting its defense capabilities.
“This is a paradox, listen to how it sounds, 500 million Europeans are asking 300 million Americans to protect them from 140 million Russians. If you can do math, then count on yourself,” Tusk said.
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