Trump turns toward Russia – weekly digest
During the week, US President Trump made several decisions in Russia's favor, depriving Ukraine of intelligence data and high-speed internet for its army. There was an assassination attempt on the President of Yemen, with a missile launched at his palace. Putin once again threatened Ukraine. Below, we recall some of the week's important events.
Trump turned to Russia – weekly digest
US President Donald Trump has now completely taken Russia's side on the issue of the war in Ukraine. After Kyiv rejected the demand not to strike Russian oil refineries, he turned completely against Kyiv. During the week, he repeated several times that "Ukraine needs to choose a new leader and that it is impossible to reach an agreement with Zelensky." Later, in an interview, he said that "Zelensky is not a person the US wants to work with." After speaking with Putin on the phone, he reached an agreement for the US to buy "diesel fuel" from Russia and lifted the sanctions against Moscow in this regard.
The speed of Starlink terminals used by the Ukrainian army was throttled, as a result of which the Ukrainians faced a serious problem at the front. Elon Musk, who has become close with Trump again, was said to be behind this restriction, but the billionaire stated that the Pentagon controls the speed of military terminals. Later, journalists revealed that the order regarding this came from the White House.
America has stopped providing Ukraine with intelligence on Russian strikes. Because of this, more Russian strikes than usual reached their targets. Following America, other Western allies also appear to have stopped providing intelligence data; only Canada is known to have shared its information. The US has also stopped providing Kyiv with intelligence on other war-related matters.
The document had safely passed Congress, but it turned out that Trump eased the restrictions in it. For example, a 100 percent tariff on those buying Russian oil and a 500 percent tariff on Russian goods themselves will no longer be imposed.
Trump has not forgotten the impeachment scandal that once began precisely after his communication with Zelensky. So now he is doing whatever he wants against Ukraine. Do not be surprised if new decisions are made in Russia's favor.
Russian President Putin commented for the first time on the strikes on Ukraine's WB warehouses and Yandex data centers. "We faced actions by the enemy against both the WB and Ozon platforms. By the way, they always take such steps that, frankly speaking, we should have anticipated them. But we thought they would not go to this extent," Putin said.
The Russian president said that "after Ukraine started it, the Russians responded and struck similar targets in Ukraine." Russia had actually struck data centers in Ukraine earlier; in fact, there is virtually no facility left in this country that a Russian missile has not reached. But Ukraine's strikes on WB and Yandex caused a huge stir. So big that the Russian president came out saying, "Now blame yourselves, we will strike even harder." Meanwhile, targeting Ukrainian data centers is neither news nor a problem for the Russians.