Trump sides with Russia on Ukraine war anniversary
The president's embrace of the Kremlin is a reversal of American policy


What happened
More than a dozen Western leaders traveled to Kyiv Monday to mark the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion. The U.S. did not send a representative. In Washington, French President Emmanuel Macron met with President Donald Trump, seeking to steer him away from his embrace of Russia and back toward Ukraine and America's traditional European allies.
At the United Nations, the U.S. joined Russia, Iran, North Korea and 14 other Moscow allies to vote against a resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and calling for the return of Ukrainian territory. The nonbinding resolution passed with the backing of 93 countries.
Who said what
Monday's anniversary followed "a cascade of unwelcome developments for Kyiv," The Associated Press said. Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "dictator," suggested Kyiv is to blame for the war and ended Russian President Vladimir Putin's "three-year diplomatic isolation" while starting peace talks with Moscow, sidelining Ukraine.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Macron and Trump Monday "showed a friendly rapport based on years of good ties," but they disagreed on "some key issues" about the Ukraine war, Reuters said. Macron said Putin was the "aggressor" in the conflict and would not respect a "weak" peace agreement with no "deterrence," while Trump suggested Putin could be trusted to uphold a peace deal and declined to call him a dictator as well. "I don't use those words lightly," Trump told reporters. "The two leaders did agree, however, on the deployment of European peacekeeping forces once a peace deal is eventually reached," Reuters said. Trump said Putin, who has publicly rejected the idea, assured him privately he "has no problem with it."
"It's time to end this bloodletting and restore peace, and I think we're going to do it," Trump said. "My administration is making a decisive break with the foreign policy values of the past administration, and, frankly, the past."
What next?
The "blitz of European trips to Washington" to "influence the new administration" continues Thursday with the arrival of British Prime Minister Kier Starmer, The New York Times said. "Russia does not hold all the cards in this war," Starmer said Monday while pledging more than $5 billion in military aid for Kyiv and new sanctions on Russia. "We must increase the pressure even further."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Deportations ensnare migrant families, U.S. citizens
Feature Trump's deportation crackdown is sweeping up more than just immigrants as ICE targets citizens, judges and nursing mothers
-
Trump shrugs off warnings over trade war costs
Feature Trump's tariffs are spiraling the U.S. toward an economic crisis as shipments slow down—and China doesn't plan to back down
-
Harvard stares down Trump's tax threat as other schools take note
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Higher ed is on high alert as the nation's premier university prepares to take on the fight of its life
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment
-
Trump's first 100 days: the reshaping of America
Talking Point The second Trump White House is 'less a new administration', and more a 'vengeful monarchy'
-
Trump moves to gut PBS and NPR in latest salvo against the media
IN THE SPOTLIGHT The president's executive order targeting two of the nation's largest public broadcasters comes as the White House seeks to radically reframe how Americans get their news
-
Trump judge bars deportations under 1798 law
speed read A Trump appointee has ruled that the president's use of a wartime act for deportations is illegal
-
Trump ousts Waltz as NSA, taps him for UN role
speed read President Donald Trump removed Mike Waltz as national security adviser and nominated him as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations