Happy Wednesday, and welcome back to our #TrumpCheck series, the LACDP's weekly newsletter that holds the Trump administration accountable for its lies, deception, and self-serving actions.
A week from today marks Donald Trump's 100th day in office of his second term as president. Since January 20th, life has looked different for the whole world, especially for the people of Ukraine.
The United States has had long-standing diplomatic relations with Ukraine, establishing a relationship nearly 40 years ago, in 1991, as soon as Ukraine seceded from the Soviet Union. On February 24th, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in what has since been referred to as a "brutal act of war."
Under President Biden, the United States was a strong ally to Ukraine, sending over $175 billion in military and budget aid to help protect hundreds of thousands of civilians. Even then, over 62% of Americans thought that the United States should be doing more to to stop Russian military actions in Ukraine. President Biden has a well-documented, long-standing, terse relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which added to the tension of the United States supporting Ukraine as it was under siege.
However, Trump, an outspoken fan of Putin, pulled the rug out from under Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as soon as he came into office, halting military aid. After a notoriously disastrous meeting at the end of February, it is speculated that Trump and Zelenskyy may meet again while they are both in Italy for the funeral of Pope Francis.
Ahead of any new talks about to go down between the two leaders, today, we are here to break down the lies that Trump and his friends have been spreading about President Zelenskyy and Ukraine.
- Trump and Vance have been outspokenly critical about President Zelenskyy not being ‘grateful enough,’ including an outright confrontation at the February 28th meeting at the White House in which Vance asked, “Have you said 'thank you' once this entire meeting?"
FACT: Zelenskyy has shown appreciation for the US during Biden and Trump's administrations, dating back to 2022, on an X post thanking Biden for the diplomatic and military assistance. He thanked Biden, Congress, and everyday Americans during a meeting with the President. He has also publicly thanked Trump over the last few months.
- Trump has accused President Zelensky of “prolonging the ‘killing field,’“ by damaging peace negotiations, claiming in a recent Truth Social that "nobody is asking Zelenskyy to recognize Crimea as Russian Territory."
FACT: JD Vance has called on Ukraine to agree to peace deal conditions that include "the annexation of Crimea by Russia." Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 and is recognized as Ukrainian territory by international law.
- Trump has referred to Zelenskyy as a 'dictator without elections'
FACT: Zelenskyy won his election in 2019 decisively with 73% of the vote, and Ukrainians are still rallying behind Zelenskyy even after Trump's attack. Ukraine is currently under martial law, and under Ukraine's constitution, it is not legal to hold national elections during this time. Zelenskyy has also said multiple times that elections will be held following the end of martial law -- he has never opposed an election or fought to stay in power.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have already been killed or forced to leave their homes. The suffering has gone on long enough, but the Trump administration wants to stand with Russia. Americans aren't having it. The first step in fighting back against the Trump administration is setting the record straight; correcting misinformation is a job for us all. If you had this email forwarded to you, you can sign up for the #TrumpCheck newsletter here.
We'll be back at defending the truth next week. Until then, stay tuned on our social media channels, linked below for information about the LACDP's fight against Trump.
