Before the shouting match in the Oval Office, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky had a bad relationship.
Already, President Trump had referred to him as a dictator and fabricated the claim that Ukraine started the war. The alliance that Joe Biden built between the United States and Ukraine is now in disarray. The public breakdown also indicates the impending onset of a significant conflict between the United States and NATO members in Europe. Outside of Ukraine, there will be numerous additional doubts and questions regarding the US
commitment to European security. The most important question is whether President Trump will honor Harry Truman’s promise in 1949 to treat an attack on a NATO ally as an attack on the United States. These worries stem from what appears to be Trump’s determination to reestablish a strong relationship with Putin of Russia.
He has put a lot of pressure on Ukraine and offered Putin big concessions that the Ukrainians would have to make. The security of Ukraine comes in last, and Europeans are concerned that it will do the same.
Trump has been enraged by President Obama’s refusal to make those concessions. He didn’t just refuse to sign the minerals deal. The Ukrainian people believe that they are engaged in a war for the survival of their nation and that Putin would break any promise to end the war if he is not stopped.
Zelensky repeatedly requested American security assurances because of this. After Vice President JD Vance intervened, the meeting erupted into a scuffle. According to one diplomatic observer, there are now suspicions that the public spat was a planned political mugging to either force Zelensky to do America’s bidding or to start a crisis that would allow them to blame him for whatever happens next.
Ukraine will continue to fight if Trump freezes military aid following the breakdown of talks. How effectively and for how long are the questions? Its European allies will be put under more pressure to pick up the slack.