Four years ago, Russia poured over the border into Ukraine, igniting the biggest war in the heart of Europe since the end of World War II. The invasion that began on Feb. 24, 2022, shattered the notion that the world order that followed had banished the days when powerful nations simply took over their weaker neighbors.
Days later, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. laid out the stakes during a State of the Union address and received towering applause, even from Republicans who disliked him and despised his agenda. After all, vowing to support nascent democracies was still in favor in Washington, an idea that crossed party lines.
“Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO allies,” Mr. Biden said, “in the event that Putin decides to keep moving west.” When President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine visited Washington a few months into the war, he was greeted like Winston Churchill in a T-shirt.
So much has changed.
On Tuesday, President Trump issued no statements backing Ukraine as the war entered its fifth year. It was unclear whether he would do so at all in his State of the Union address. When asked what he wanted of Mr. Trump during an interview with CNN’s Clarissa Ward, Mr. Zelensky offered a simple answer: “I want him to stay on our side.”
Mr. Trump often says that he was surprised that ending the war has proved so hard, especially after he predicted during his campaign that he would have it wrapped up in 24 hours. But the bigger surprise is the degree to which he, and some members of his party, have turned their backs on Ukraine’s cause.
In fact, he appears now to be focused largely on resuming business with Russia, starting with investments and purchases of oil and gas. Listen for how he frames the conflict during Tuesday night’s speech: as an effort to protect a nascent democracy, a moment for America to force compromise on both sides, or his long-sought chance to resume ordinary business with Vladimir V. Putin. And compare what he says to Mr. Biden’s warning that night four years ago:
“Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson,” Mr. Biden said, “When dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos.”
David E. Sanger covers the Trump administration and a range of national security issues. He has been a Times journalist for more than four decades and has written four books on foreign policy and national security challenges.
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