By Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was surrounded by allies on Monday as he marked three years since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded his country. There was one notable absence: a representative from Washington.
Although backed by much of Europe, Ukraine faces an increasingly uncertain future as President Donald Trump dramatically breaks with traditional United States foreign policy and is increasingly sympathetic to the Russian invaders.
As Ukraine’s allies lamented the conflict’s toll, they also extolled the defence of the liberal European project and its centrality to the war in Ukraine.
“In this fight for survival, it is not only the destiny of Ukraine that is at stake,” European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said in a post on X after arriving in Kyiv alongside other European leaders, as well as outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “It’s Europe’s destiny,” she said, with the European Union approving a fresh round of sanctions against Russia on Monday.
President Donald Trump last week blamed Zelenskyy for failing to secure a “deal” with Russia to end the war and at one point branding the Ukrainian leader a “dictator,” even though the Ukrainian leader was freely elected and enjoys higher approval ratings than Trump.
Russia’s Putin, meanwhile, has remained in power for decades through deepening crackdowns on free expression and increasingly illegitimate elections, according to international experts.
Ukraine and its European allies were dismayed when they weren’t included in U.S. and Russian negotiations an end to the conflict.
