‘Greatest betrayal’: President Trump implies Russia has the right to keep stolen Ukrainian territory
Ukraine may not be able to reclaim parts of its territory that Russia encroached upon. President Donald Trump seems reluctant to negotiate with Russia for Ukraine’s sake.
In an interview at the White House, a reporter asked Trump if there was any possibility for Ukraine to have its pre-2014 borders. The question includes Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. President Trump doesn’t think it’s possible for Ukraine to return to the way it was. He answered, “Well, Pete said today that that’s unlikely, right? It certainly would seem to be unlikely.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ruled out the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO. He also believes that Crimea and other territories that were occupied by Moscow since 2014 couldn’t be restored.
Trump continued, “They took a lot of land and fought for that land, and they lost a lot of soldiers.” It’s a surprising choice of words that enraged some social media users. One X user described this as “the greatest betrayal.”
Another social media user compared Trump’s logic to ceding Pearl Harbor to Imperial Japan. They mused, “By Trump’s logic, Imperial Japan should own Pearl Harbor because they invested so many planes into it.”
Shifting away from Ukraine
Recently, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine rejected a deal proposed by the Trump administration. This offer would give the United States 50% ownership of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. Zelenskyy commented, “I didn’t let the ministers sign a relevant agreement because, in my view, it is not ready to protect us, our interest.”
The Trump administration has since been reluctant to swing for Ukraine’s benefit. President Trump himself decided to throw punches against Zelenskyy through a social media post. The US president alleged that Zelenskyy “talked the United States into spending $350 billion in a war that couldn’t be won.” The figure given by the president hasn’t been verified. Furthermore, the Associated Press reported that Congress provided $175 billion to Ukraine since 2022. Nevertheless, Trump further implies corruption on Zelenskyy’s part and accuses him of mysteriously losing money that the US gave as aid.
The implication in Trump’s post is that Ukraine shouldn’t have been pursuing NATO membership. Perhaps the darker interpretation is that Ukraine should’ve been tolerant of Russia’s aggression, even as missiles rained down on different cities of Ukraine.
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