Has Donald Trump effectively changed sides in the Ukraine war? Over just a few tumultuous days, Trump’s already rocky relations with Volodymyr Zelensky have tumbled into something close to irreconcilable breakdown. After Trump announced that he would be de-sanctioning Russian diesel exports in an attempt to lower global prices, Zelensky had the temerity to call him ‘weak’. Trump responded bluntly that ‘it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president’, then squarely (and unfairly) blamed Zelensky’s continued strikes on Russian oil refineries for an international fuel price spike. For good measure, he announced that the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative by which European governments buy US armaments to donate to Ukraine would be wound up – while senior officials reportedly threatened that the US would no longer share satellite intelligence with Kyiv. Trump is now aligned with Putin insofar as both are calling for Zelensky to go. More, Trump seems hellbent on crippling Ukraine’s ability to fight on. 

Ukraine can probably be bullied into submission by Trump’s heavy-handed methods

Ukraine can probably be bullied into submission by Trump’s heavy-handed methods

Much of what has been going on between Washington, Moscow and Kyiv over the past week appears inexplicable. Trump’s agreement to allow Russia to export up to five million tons of diesel is too small to ease a supply crunch significantly, but it will boost the Kremlin’s war economy and hand Putin a significant diplomatic victory. The PURL procurement instrument has so far funnelled nearly $7 billion of European money direct to US arms manufacturers. Ending it hurts both........

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