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Journalism of Courage
Donald Trump is yet again on the verge of losing another ‘bestie’ as his bromance with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin appears to be rapidly escalating towards a breakup.
The US president was recently seen publicly throwing his weight behind Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian leader whom he once castigated for not giving enough credit to Washington for its support in the war against Russia and called him a “dictator without elections”.
Trump, on Monday (July 14), announced that the United States will help Ukraine obtain advanced US-made weaponry, and also threatened to impose severe tariffs on Russia if a ceasefire is not reached within 50 days, making a notable shift in his positions towards both the warring nations.
During several instances, Trump has repeatedly signalled his displeasure with frenemy Putin. The most recent was at a Cabinet meeting where he said that he was “not happy” with his Russian counterpart over a conflict that was “killing a lot of people” on both sides.
Trump’s dramatic U-turn:
Trump, during his presidential campaign in 2024, appeared to blame Zelenskyy for the Russian aggression and repeatedly pledged to end the war within 24 hours of returning to the White House.
Trump condemned Ukraine for the Russian invasion, calling Zelenskyy a “Dictator without Elections”, echoing claims made by the Kremlin.
Lashing out at Ukraine over its concerns about being left out of US-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia on ending the war, Trump said, “Today I heard, ‘oh, we weren’t invited.’ Well you’ve been there for three years, you should have ended it… you should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”
Zelenskyy’s visit to the Oval Office escalated into a dramatic shouting match after Trump and US Vice President JD Vance slammed the Ukrainian leader for not demonstrating enough gratitude over Washington’s support in its war against Russia.
“You’re right now not in a very good position,” Trump told Zelenskyy. “You’ve allowed yourself to be in a very bad position. You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards.”
The first time Trump publicly expressed his frustration against staunch ally Putin, stating that he was “angry” at his Russian counterpart for questioning Zelensky’s legitimacy and for not being able to end “the bloodshed in Ukraine”.
Trump once again denounced Putin for launching attacks against Ukraine.
“I am not happy with the Russian strikes on KYIV,” the US president wrote in a post on Truth Social. “Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!”
Trump held a private meeting with the Zelenskyy at the Vatican, the first since their brawl at the White House.
The Ukrainian leader described the one-on-one meeting as a “very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results”.
Meanwhile, Trump again criticised Putin for launching attacks on Ukraine, stating that it made him “think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’”
“Too many people are dying,” he added.
The US signed a minerals deal with Ukraine, affirming a “long-term strategic alignment” between the two countries and Washington’s support for “Ukraine’s security, prosperity, reconstruction, and integration into global economic frameworks.”
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Trump and Putin held a telephonic conversation where the US president appeared to accept his Russian counterpart’s demand to postpone a ceasefire.
Trump leveraged his favourite weapon and threatened new sanctions against Russia after Moscow launched a massive attack, targeting Ukraine.
“I’m not happy with what Putin is doing. He’s killing a lot of people,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” he said. “I’ve known him a long time.”
He later wrote a post on his Truth Social handle, calling Putin “absolutely crazy” over the escalation of the war.
“Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever. I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia,” he said.
Trump and Zelenskyy met at a NATO summit in The Hague.
Describing the meeting as “very nice”, Trump said, “Couldn’t have been nicer,” adding that Zelenskyy would “like to see an end to this.”
Trump said that he was not happy with Putin, stating that he was “killing a lot of people”.
“I’m not happy with Putin, I can tell you that much right now, because he’s killing a lot of people,” he said.
“You want to know the truth? He is very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,” the US President added.
Trump made the boldest move backing Ukraine, stating that he would send Patriot air defence systems to help the war-torn country defend itself from the ongoing Russian invasion.
He also launched a fresh attack against Putin, stating that he “talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening”.
“We will send them Patriots, which they desperately need, because Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening. But there’s a little bit of a problem there. I don’t like it,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington on Sunday.
(With inputs from agencies)
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