President Donald Trump’s shaky relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was on full display Monday as the two meet to continue peace talks amid the ongoing Russian invasion, and one former Defense Department official is pointing to what they say is the root cause of Trump’s tumultuous relationship with the Ukrainian leader.
Trump’s meeting Monday with Zelenskyy in Palm Beach, Florida, was criticized by some as another example of the president’s “insane” strategy to bring about an end to the conflict, which has seen Trump demand Ukraine make significant territorial concessions. And, according to former Defense Department official and national security expert Joseph Bosco, Trump’s on-again, off-again relationship with Zelenskyy stems from his own insecurities.
“It is evident that Ukraine, the victim of the worst cross-border aggression and war crimes since World War II, is confronting both a supremely confident and unbudging aggressor and an American mediator struck with admiration for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Bosco wrote in an op-ed published in The Hill Tuesday.
“What’s more, Trump’s personal disdain for the diminutive and beleaguered Ukrainian leader constantly shines through. Zelensky’s basic integrity and moral courage, which reflects the character of his countrymen, obviously discomfits Trump who, in his business and political world, is not accustomed to encountering men, or women, with such qualities.”
Trump made headlines earlier this year after his explosive Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy in which he scolded the Ukrainian president for not respecting the United States. Since then, Trump has reportedly had additional heated exchanges with Zelenskyy, including an alleged vulgar “shouting match” in which he demanded he cede territory to Russia or face destruction.
With negotiations between Ukraine and Russia still ongoing, Trump appeared Monday to double down on his demand that Ukraine make major concessions, and using what Bosco described as an “implicit threat.”
“Trump repeated at their news conference that if Ukraine and Russia cannot reach an agreement to end the war, they will just have to ‘go on fighting,’” Bosco wrote. “His implicit threat is that he will make Ukraine do so without American help – and in fact he has already twice cut off U.S. aid when Zelensky, his back to the wall, nevertheless balked at Putin-Trump demands for major concessions.
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