Donald Trump and J.D. Vance dismiss Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting in the White House, Washington D.C., February 28, 2025 (CNN)

EA-Times Radio VideoCast: The Kremlin’s Lies About Cost of Its Ukraine Invasion

I joined Ukrainian journalist Daniel Tkiie on Monday for a 30-minute analysis of how Ukraine is progressing, despite a lack of support from the Trump Adminsitration, in its resistance of Russia’s invasion.

We consider the diplomatic front with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky making a second visit to Saudi Arabia in five weeks. Can Kyiv leverage its anti-drone weapons, technology, and experts for financial and energy support?

I look at Ukraine’s effective counter-attacks inside Russia, with strikes on ports, refineries, oil terminals, and other infrastructure supporting the invasion.

I set this against the objections of the Trump Administration, including its opposition to Zelensky’s Saudi trip, and the support of officials like real estate developer Steve Witkoff for the Kremlin’s maximum demands.

And I put this in a wider context of a Trump camp that, from the start of its second term in office, was ready to abandon Ukrainian and European security. Revisiting Vice President J.D. Vance’s ambush of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in February 2025 and considering the next 14 months, I ask, “Are Europe and Kyiv ready for a political, economic, and military future without reliance on Washington?”

This is the most important moment for Europe since 1991. The planning it has made, on the basis of a US political and military power at the center of the arrangement, and a Russia which is not an immediate threat — that’s gone.

Russia is an immediate threat and the Trump Administration cannot be relied upon.