Trump Framed Ukraine’s Year: From the First Day to the Last

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In 2025, the world once again revolved around U.S. President Donald Trump. For Ukraine, it was both symbolic and revealing that the year opened—and closed—with Trump. 

It all began with a scandalous meeting at the White House in February, when negotiations ended in an open quarrel between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump, along with Vice President Vance, who helped provoke the confrontation. At the time, it seemed that everything was lost: relations with the United States appeared to be irreparably damaged, and Ukraine faced the prospect of losing its key strategic ally—one that provided invaluable military assistance, including intelligence support.

Fortunately, thanks in part to the efforts of Ukraine’s European partners, a full-scale catastrophe was avoided. And now, at the end of the year, Zelenskyy and Trump have met once again.

Many observers consider the main achievement of this meeting to be the simple fact that it did not end in another quarrel. This is despite Trump’s strikingly inappropriate remarks, in which he claimed that Putin “wants to see Ukraine successful” and is supposedly “sincere and generous in wishing Ukraine success, particularly in the energy sector, by selling energy resources at low prices.” With such statements, Trump repeatedly provoked Zelenskyy, seemingly inviting a sharp reaction.

These remarks amounted to a blatant mockery of a country that endures daily bombardment, including systematic attacks on its energy infrastructure—leaving millions of Ukrainians for days without electricity, heating, or water. Yet Ukraine’s president, having learned from bitter experience, restrained himself, allowing his reaction to surface only in his facial expressions. And as the saying goes, facial expressions do not count as evidence.

From the very first days of Trump’s presidency, it was clear that he was playing on Putin’s side. Throughout the year, Trump acted as an ally—and an accomplice—of the Russian dictator, first covertly and then openly. His latest scandalous remarks about a “good Putin” only confirm his complete alignment with the aggressor. Any lingering illusions about the American president should, by now, be fully dispelled.

Trump is either profoundly detached from reality, inhabiting a parallel world of his own making, or he is a complete cynic. One does not exclude the other. On the one hand, this is alarming; on the other, it offers a measure of hope—that Zelenskyy understands this as well and therefore will not make the capitulatory concessions Trump is effectively demanding on Putin’s behalf, concessions that would be disastrous for Ukraine.

One can only hope that Zelenskyy also recognizes a more fundamental truth: there will be no peace as long as Putin does not want it. As long as Russian forces continue to advance at the front—even at a snail’s pace—there will be no meaningful concessions from Moscow. And that means there will be no real progress in negotiations.

The so-called peace talks—or rather, the imitation of negotiations—are yet another Kremlin special operation, pursuing two clear objectives: buying time to delay or avoid additional sanctions (a strategy that has worked for an entire year), and fuelling internal destabilization within Ukraine.

The very discussion of the points of a so-called “peace agreement” only unsettles and demoralizes Ukrainians, many of whom feel they are being psychologically conditioned to accept surrender. This plays directly into Putin’s hands. While Ukraine, the United States, and Europe remain absorbed in a fake “peace process,” Putin continues to advance quietly on the battlefield.

Ukraine’s authorities must finally curb their appetite for corruption and channel all available resources into strengthening the army. The NABU investigations have shown that corrupt officials enriched themselves so brazenly that they effectively “stole ten lifetimes” during the Great War. As German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has rightly stated, the only real guarantor of Ukraine’s security is its army. I would add that it is also the guarantor of Europe’s security. Russia needs a conquered Ukraine as a launchpad for further aggression against Europe—starting, for example, with Estonia. Europe has finally begun to grasp this reality, which offers hope that in 2026 it will provide Ukraine with sustained and decisive support.

The real problem is that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have ceased to be a top priority for President Zelenskyy. The 2026 budget makes this unmistakably clear: money flows freely to populism and propaganda, while the army is financed on a leftover principle. Even a pay raise for soldiers was deemed unnecessary.”

Meanwhile, Russia plans to allocate nearly 30 percent of its state budget—approximately $166.8 billion—to military spending next year, the highest level since the Soviet era.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government is preparing for… elections. Because it really wants to keep power. Thus, instead of directing all our efforts against the enemy, we are turning them against one another. This is not just nonsense; this is another Kremlin special operation.

Unfortunately, despite the war, the President of Ukraine—assisted by Yermak—has attempted to build an authoritarian system of power. Yermak’s formal withdrawal following the NABU searches did not bring any fundamental change to the situation in the country. He merely retreated into the shadows, while the power structure he constructed remained intact. Moreover, not a single odious official promoted by Yermak was removed from office.

How the country continues to hold on amid such internal erosion remains an open question. As one of my favorite military analysts puts it, this endurance can be explained only by divine providence—and, above all, by the heroism of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

And as for what we all wish for in the coming year—we will not say it aloud, lest we jinx it.

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