By: Claire McCullough
President Donald Trump has only been President again for three months and his presidency has already sparked many controversies and contentions. However, none have had such an international impact as Trump and his Vice President, JD Vance’s, televised meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the 28th of February. According to Zelenskyy met with the President in the Oval Office to an article written by PBS titled “What U.S. Lawmakers are saying about Trump and Zelenskyy’s clash at the White House” published on March first of this year the two Presidents met to negotiate an international contract that would allow the U.S. permission to U.S. to use Ukrainian minerals.
PBS stated that the meeting went downhill once the topic of bringing an end to the Russian Ukrainian war by a ceasefire was brought up by Trump and Vance inciting a yelling match against Zelenskyy. The meeting ended with Trump evicting Zelenskyy off White House property as mentioned by Joseph Addington in an article titled “Zelensky Spars with Trump, Vance in Oval Office” in the American Conservative. CNN reported in an entry headlined “Zelensky: Trump meeting was “regrettable,” but Ukraine is ready to negotiate peace” published on March fourth, reported that since the meetings close, a suspension has been placed on Ukrainian military support by the Trump administration. However, military support is not the only kind that has been stopped. Professor of history at McPherson College, Dr. Kenneth Yohn, stated “The United States was providing intelligence to Ukrainians… the United States was providing signal intelligence by tapping into Russian communications, and that’s another that’s been canceled. The United States will no longer provide signal intelligence support to the Ukrainians”.
Zelenskyy’s reasoning for not putting his trust in a ceasefire is because he’s already seen the results. As Dr. Yohn says, “This war has been going on since 2014, Russia and Ukraine.., and there have been a dozen of ceasefire agreements, and everyone of them have been violated by the Russians.” With the information at hand Trump and Vance still heavily advocated for a ceasefire. At about four minutes in a video of the whole argument provided by a news source titled the Telegraph Trump said “Look if you can get a ceasefire right now. I’d tell you take it, so the bullets stop flying” that disregard Ukraines history of ceasefires with Russia. Comments by Trump and Vance such as this, the administration withdrawing support for Ukraine, and the fact that, according to Dr. Yohn, an Executive order issued by the President to identify and remove sanctions from Russia have caused many to feel as though the U.S. has altered its stance in the Ukrainian Russian war to favor Russia.
However, U.S.’s hesitance will not slow down Ukranians and other Europeans’ persistence against Russia. As Dr. Matthew Cotton, whose Masters Degree was in Russian Area Studies, mentions “he (Zelenskyy) did after that meeting with the White House is he went and met with European leaders and got a very warm reception”. Meaning that even without America’s support Europeans still feel strong about the war and are willing to help. The absence of Americans in these alliances implies that the Europeans will have to fight without American support for the first time since the 40s according to Dr. Cotton. As Cotton even stated, “that it (U.S.’s withdraw of support) creates an opportunity for a future European coalition that doesn’t look to the United States”. In the last two years since the Russian Ukraine war started news about the war has dwindled. However, as alliances change and updates in the war continue, Americans may not be able to shut out the war, and the very real possible consequences the war might bring.
