There are many sins against humanity that Donald Trump can never be forgiven. One sin, among many, is Trump so often siding with Putin, Russia’s dictator, against Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s democratically-elected president.
Trump simply has no moral center, no values to guide him other than what seems best for Donald Trump. He couldn’t care less about Ukraine defending itself against the unprovoked invasion by Russia in February 2022. Biden didn’t do enough to help Ukraine either, but at least his heart was in the right place, and Biden successfully advocated for Congressional support in the form of weapons and financial assistance.
By contrast, Trump keeps demanding that Ukraine make concessions to Russia in order to arrive at a peace plan. So far Trump has demanded exactly nothing from Russia, at least not anything substantial.
It’s deeply irritating to see this repeatedly play out: before a meeting with Zelensky to discuss a peace proposal acceptable to Ukraine and European countries, Trump has a lengthy phone conversation with Putin. No one knows what they talk about, but after the phone call Trump echoes Putin talking points in his meeting with Zelensky. Putin, who used to be a KGB agent, obviously knows how to manipulate Trump into doing his bidding by appealing to his ego and selfishness.
For example, Putin will dangle the prospect of financial deals between the United States and Russia like a carrot luring a donkey to walk. Trump jumps at that bait because he has visions dancing through his head of billions of dollars flowing into the pockets of his family and wealthy supporters.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians suffer. Putin has been ruthlessly attacking civilian targets, focusing on energy infrastructure because it is winter and very cold in Ukraine. This is just one example of the thousands of war crimes Russia has committed since the 2022 invasion.
The most recent bizarre example of Trump favoring Putin over Zelensky involves a Putin claim that Ukraine sent drones to attack one of Putin’s residences. A CNN story says:
The Kremlin has dismissed calls to provide evidence to support its claim that Ukraine launched an attack using dozens of drones against one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residences.
But on Tuesday, it repeated that the drone assault took place in the Novgorod region, south of St. Petersburg, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying the alleged operation was a “terrorist attack” aimed at “sabotaging President Trump’s efforts to facilitate a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.”
US President Donald Trump has been trying to advance peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, but there are still wide differences between the two sides.
Trump said Putin told him of the alleged attack in a phone call early Monday. Trump indicated that he took Putin at his word before acknowledging that the attack may not have occurred.
“May” is an understatement. It’s virtually certain that Ukrainian drones didn’t attack Putin’s residence. A story in The Guardian says:
What evidence has Moscow provided?
Absolutely none, and on Tuesday Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said there would be none forthcoming. “I don’t think there should be any evidence if such a massive drone attack is being carried out, which, thanks to the well-coordinated work of the air defence system, was shot down,” he told journalists in a phone call.
Often, when there is a Ukrainian drone attack, Russians living nearby post video of explosions to social media, but there is no footage of this supposed attack, and residents of nearby Valdai told Russian independent media outlets they had not heard explosions on Monday.
Can Moscow be trusted?
In a word, no. The Kremlin and the defence ministry often make fantastical claims about the war in Ukraine. Moscow still insists it never targets civilians in its drone and missile raids on Ukraine, despite regular evidence to the contrary. Russian authorities have a long history of fictitious stories about Ukraine, stretching back to the 2014 annexation of Crimea when Putin claimed the Russian special forces annexing the peninsula were in fact local people.
Here’s what there is evidence of: Russian drones attacking residential buildings in Odessa, a Ukrainian city.
This photo comes from a story in The Kyiv Independent. I’ll share it in its entirety, because it shows how Putin, like Trump, often accuses his enemies of doing the very thing that he’s guilty of.
Russian forces launched a large-scale drone attack on Odesa overnight Dec. 30-31, striking residential buildings, leaving parts of the city without heat, electricity or water, and injuring four people, including three children, local officials said.
Explosions were reported in the city around 12:20 a.m. local time, according to a Kyiv Independent journalist on the ground.
Ukraine’s Air Force warned of dozens of drones approaching the city late on Dec. 30. Air raid warnings were also issued amid the threat of ballistic missile attacks.
Serhii Lysak, the head of Odesa City Military Administration, first reported that two multi-storey residential buildings had been struck by Russian drones amid the attack. A fire broke out at one of the buildings, leading to an unspecified number of casualties, including children, Lysak added.
“Another proof that Russia is targeting civilians,” Lysak wrote on social media following the strike on the building.
Afterwards, Lysak reported that four people were injured in the Russian attack on Odesa. Among them, three were children, including a 7-month-old infant.
Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper also reported that a fire broke out at a warehouse of a logistics company. Falling drone debris also caused vehicle fires in the city.
No information was immediately available as to the extent of damage caused.
Odesa and the surrounding regions have recently come under Russian fire amid Moscow’s ongoing attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector — which have intensified with colder weather in an apparent effort to create a nationwide blackout.
Power outages in Odesa Oblast are linked to Russian attacks from October through December, with the scale of damage to energy facilities from Russian attacks making rolling blackouts unpredictable, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry said on Dec. 30.
Russian forces have regularly attacked Ukrainian cities in recent months amid U.S. efforts to negotiatean end of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Despite multiple rounds of negotiations, the fate of ongoing peace talks remains uncertain amid Moscow’s refusal to budge from its maximalist demands in Ukraine.
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