If Trump finally sides with Ukraine against Putin, he may deserve hero's welcome in Scotland
Putin’s escalating drone attacks on Ukraine demonstrate for all the world – and Donald Trump – to see that the Russia dictator is not remotely interested in peace
Two weeks ago, Vladimir Putin’s forces fired a record number of missiles and drones at Ukraine. Last week, it broke that grim new record and now it has done so once again, with a total of 728 drones and decoys plus 13 ballistic or cruise missiles.
These escalating attacks show Russia’s lip-service to the idea of peace talks for what it was. Putin was never interested in peace and continues to think he can take Ukraine by force. Western military analysts assess Russia is boosting its drone manufacturing facilities and could soon be capable of launching 1,000 drones a night at Ukraine.
In a social media post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote that “there have been so many attempts to achieve peace... and only Russia rejects everything”. He urged countries to impose “painful sanctions against oil, which has been pumping money into Moscow's military machine for more than three years of war”.
“The partners [other supportive countries] know how to put pressure so that Russia will be forced to think about ending the war, and not new strikes. Everyone who wants peace must act," he added.
Scales falling from Trump’s eyes?
It’s a message he will hope Donald Trump hears. The US President’s appalling attacks on Zelensky – incorrectly calling him a “dictator”, falsely claiming Ukraine started the war, and publicly upbraiding him in the White House – have prompted fears he is a member of what former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney describes as her party’s “Putin wing”.
However, although his repeated flip-flopping makes him hard to read, Trump’s recent complaints that “we get a lot of bulls*** thrown at us by Putin” and “he's very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless” could be a sign that the scales are finally falling from his eyes.
If Trump follows up his words with deeds that demonstrate strong support for Ukraine, the public’s response to his forthcoming trip to Scotland may not be quite so frosty. And a decisive intervention might even merit a hero’s welcome. Trump needs to realise the murderous Putin must be defeated in Ukraine, for its own sake and for the future of democracy in all Europe.
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