In Ukraine, too, Trump's statements about NATO are being followed closely – and with concerns about Russian aggression. But there are also positive memories of his time in office.
The fact that Donald Trump admires Russian President Vladimir Putin, even wants to give him a free hand against NATO countries, that Trump gave Crimea to Russia because people speak Russian there – all of this is present in Ukraine.
And it worries investigative journalist Tetjana Nikolajenko: “When Trump was president for the first time, we were not in such a critical war situation as we are now, we did not need such strong military support.” Without weapons, this conflict will not simply freeze as it has before.
“Survive until November”
MP Ivanna Klimpush-Zintsadze agrees. In the recent Russian air strikes on Kiev and other cities, the Ukrainian army is intercepting fewer and fewer rockets. “Above all, we have to survive until November.” The US election in November is far away in reality as she experiences it. “You can hardly plan until next week,” she says.
However, the foreign policy expert is not staring like a rabbit at a snake if Trump is re-elected. Despite his threats, she doesn't have all bad memories of him. In his first term in office, he delivered Javelin anti-tank missiles to Kiev for the war in eastern Ukraine, unlike his predecessor Barack Obama.
On the other hand, as president, Trump wanted to blackmail the newly elected Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating Joe Biden's son Hunter. That brought Trump impeachment proceedings, which aroused his resentment against Ukraine.
Ukrainian opposition feels marginalized
Klimpusch-Zinsadze, the former Ukrainian deputy prime minister, believes that good contacts at all levels of US politics are more important than ever. But because she belongs to the parliamentary opposition, she couldn't make it. Her party European Solidarity is a member of two international party organizations: the European EPP and the International Democratic Union: “In December we wanted to take part in the international annual meeting in Washington DC, but we couldn't, the speaker of our Ukrainian parliament didn't allow us. “
So they missed opportunities to join forces to gain international support for Ukraine. But Zelenskyj apparently prefers to take on this task all alone. The opposition feels marginalized, something they are resisting. “They don't even give a reason for not letting us travel. Which is why I, like others in the group, are taking legal action against the head of parliament.”
Rasmussen wants quick ones Security guarantees
The endangered Ukraine needs security guarantees, Zelensky has put his head of the presidential office Andriy Yermak and the former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in charge of an international working group that is supposed to bring countries around the world on board. Great Britain was the first country to guarantee security for Ukraine; Germany could soon follow.
Rasmussen said recently in Kiev that he hopes that the security guarantees will be in place by the NATO summit in July in Washington – before the Republican convention at which their presidential candidate will be chosen. He made no secret of the fact that he was in favor of inviting Ukraine to this summit, even if critics said that it could not become a member as long as the war lasted. “But this gives Putin an incentive to continue his war and a de facto veto right,” Rasmussen continued. “He shouldn't be the one who decides NATO membership, because Xi Jinping in China would conclude that if Putin takes Crimea, he can take Taiwan.”
“I almost got shot by them.”
Such an operation raises hope in Ukraine, including Tetjana Nikolajenko, the investigative journalist who herself had to endure 20 days of Russian soldiers in Chernihiv. “I almost got shot by them. Simply because they were drunk and they wanted to know where Ukrainian soldiers were.”
The Ukrainian learned what Russian occupation means and what that would mean for the entire country.
