President Donald Trump’s very public spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy represents an unexpected low point in an already bad situation, but hopefully not the end of a long-standing alliance, said Vsevolod Petriv, a high ranking advocate for Ukraine in Boston.
Petriv, the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America’s Boston branch president, spoke to the Herald Sunday as representatives from a broad array of European and Western nations met with Zelenskyy in London to discuss a path toward peace in the now three-year war raging in eastern Europe.
While it’s reassuring that European nations are taking the security situation seriously, Petriv said, it’s hard to ignore the elephant conspicuously absent from the room and who benefits from the resulting void.
“It’s good to see that at least Europe sees the importance of stopping armed aggression,” Petriv said, because, by sitting out, “the current US administration is acting either unknowingly or knowingly as a Russian asset.”
It’s not surprising that the U.S. wasn’t involved in the talks, Petriv said.
On Friday, Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office collapsed in an unprecedented and very public way, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance both took turns attacking the Ukrainian leader over his nation’s response to an invasion by Russian forces.
Both U.S. leaders accused Zelenskyy of not being thankful for the support he was shown under President Biden’s administration.
Ukrainians in Massachusetts, Petriv said, joined those around the world in responding to Trump’s treatment of Zelenskyy with shock and no small amount of pride.
While Ukrainians expected Trump’s approach to the war to be different from Biden’s, Petriv said, they never expected the kind of dressing down delivered by the White House.
As the scene unfolded, Petriv said it was good to see the Ukrainian president stand his ground in much the same way he has held firm in front of Putin.
“Ukraine is an ally of the United States and should be treated as such,” he said, while adding that “Ukraine is grateful for the support of the U.S. Administration and its people have provided.”
Besides, Petriv said, the U.S. has gotten quite the bang for its buck by backing Ukraine’s continued resistance to Russian expansionist aggression. The U.S. military has been able to restock its own supplies with new equipment while getting rid of old arms, and at the same time Russia’s military capabilities have been degraded and its economy destabilized. The U.S. hasn’t deployed a single troop into combat to achieve these ends, Petriv said.
“It’s a winning game for the U.S.,” he said. “The U.S. has benefited greatly from this struggle.”
Despite the “glitch” between Zelenskyy and Trump, Petriv said that he’s hopeful the pair of nations can come back to the table.
“Hopefully both nations will be able to resume working together to restore the rule of law, continue to defend freedom and the right of each nation to determine its path,” he said.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, during an interview with NBC news on Sunday, suggested that if Zelenskyy isn’t willing to negotiate, he should consider making way for another Ukrainian leader who might.
“Something has to change. Either he needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country to do that. I mean, it’s up to the Ukrainians to figure that out, but I can tell you that we are re-exerting peace through strength,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton called Trump’s reversal of long-standing U.S. foreign policy a retreat, and took the president to task for “something that every American since WWII thought was unimaginable.”
“The U.S. has officially ceded moral and military leadership to the Europeans. Congratulations, Donald Trump, you’ve retreated,” he told the Herald.
Republican U.S. Sen. James Lankford told NBC that he doesn’t think Zelenskyy leaving power would be a good idea at this point in the war, and that such a move would “spiral Ukraine into chaos right now.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, said Sunday that if a Democrat were taking Trump’s stance on the war, that they’d be well on their way to earning a Nobel Peace Prize.
“This is absurd. We are trying to end a war. You cannot end a war unless both sides come to the table, starting with the Russians, and that is the point the president has made,” he told ABC.
Zelenskyy said Sunday that he and European leaders’ meeting was “dedicated to Ukraine and our shared European future,” and that they were “working in Europe to establish a solid foundation for cooperation with the United States in pursuit of true peace and guaranteed security.”
“Europe’s unity is at an exceptionally high level, one that has not been seen in a long time. We are discussing with our partners security guarantees and the conditions for a just peace for Ukraine. A series of important meetings and decisions are being prepared for the near future. I am grateful to all our friends and partners for their efforts in bringing about a stable and guaranteed peace in Ukraine. Joint strength can protect our future,” Zelenskyy said.