Volodymyr Zelensky proved too honest a man, too loyal to his own people and too decent to lie, when asked by Piers Morgan whether he felt “betrayed” by Donald Trump. He hesitated for a moment, knowing the portent of his reply, before answering in the affirmative, acknowledging that “it’s a pity that we are losing a strong partner”.
Reflecting on more than four years of Russian brutality against his people – suffering on a scale unprecedented in Europe since the Second World War – President Zelensky could hardly deny the truth without appearing foolish and cowardly.
He put his feelings plainly. Ukraine is losing America, but not because of anything Ukraine has done or failed to do: “We can’t be weak. We’re not selling our country. Look, guys, it’s not about business for us. It’s our lives. It’s our country, our home, our children.”
It is not the first time President Zelensky has had to set out the reality of this conflict – that Russia is the aggressor, that Vladimir Putin is the one who breaks promises made to President Trump, and that even if America abandons them, they will fight on.
They do so because President Putin will not be content with annexing a further swath of sovereign Ukrainian territory in the east, as well as recognition of Russian rule over Crimea, occupied since 2014. He wants all of Ukraine – its young people for the Russian war machine, its resources and industry likewise, and to extinguish Ukrainian language, culture and identity. Under Putin’s jackboot, it would be left, at best, as a puppet state even more subordinate to Moscow than Belarus.
There would be destruction, pillaging and reprisals, just as there have been in the areas the Russians already hold. This imperial ambition and contempt for Ukraine, hardly disguised by President Putin in his fake history monologues, is why a column of Russian tanks was sent down the motorway to Kyiv on the first day of the “special military operation” in February 2022.
Mr Trump is right that Mr Putin wants a deal more than Mr Zelensky – but only because a ceasefire would give Russia time to regroup before renewing its assault on a weakened Ukraine. No doubt the Ukrainian people will try to resist, and Europe, as it stands, will try to support them.
In Brussels, as in his earlier visit to Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, Mr Zelensky was given the usual warm welcome, and reassured about continued backing. Yet he, the Europeans and everyone else know that the attitude of the United States and President Trump remains critical to the survival of Ukraine as a free nation, as well as the long-term security of Europe.
The coalition of the willing that President Macron and Sir Keir Starmer assembled is not enough to make up for the loss of American assistance, even in its present reduced form. Europe hasn’t got the air defence systems, the intelligence, the diplomatic and industrial clout to keep Ukraine going (or defend itself).
This would be even more the case if, as he might, Mr Trump also further reduced sanctions on Russian oil and its shadow fleet of tankers, or decided to cancel the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements System, whereby the Europeans buy material from US defence companies under the purview of Nato, and send it on to Kyiv.
Washington may have stopped funding Kyiv and gifting it military equipment, but it still wields considerable power over Ukraine’s fate. The danger is that President Trump, in a fit of pique, will turn against Mr Zelensky again. Just days ago, he appeared to acquiesce in the cutoff of intelligence and satellite communications to Ukrainian forces, while suggesting that Mr Zelensky should be replaced.
Never, even after the most depraved attacks on civilian targets, has Mr Trump issued much more than mild and equivocal rebukes to the butcher in the Kremlin, and never has any displeasure been sustained. More likely, there will be a 90-minute phone call between the two where Mr Putin, once again, goes through his talking points and convinces Mr Trump that Ukraine started the war, or is at least equally responsible.
The weird psychological hold this modern-day Russian czar holds over the American president is one of the great mysteries of the early 21st century – but it is real and critical to the outcome of this war, almost irrespective of who controls the US Congress next month. President Trump will remain commander-in-chief, and in charge of US foreign policy.
It will become even more crucial if Europe turns away from Mr Zelensky. Marine Le Pen, favourite to become French president next spring, and Alice Weidel, on behalf of the Alternative for Germany, who could be in power in 2028, have both already given notice that they will cut off national and EU aid to Ukraine. They seem strangely unfazed by the prospect, raised by Mr Zelensky himself, of 20 million refugees fleeing east from Russian tyranny, let alone the fate of, say, Lithuania, Poland or Romania.
The insidious mindset of appeasement is returning, replete with complex historical ironies, to Europe. Betrayed as he has been, Mr Zelensky owes it to his people to try to rebuild relations with Mr Trump and more sympathetic figures in Washington. He did so after that ugly ambush in the Oval Office last year; he can do it again – and he must.
Read MoreWe are now watching Donald Trump’s presidency die on live TV
Trump is abandoning Ukraine to its bleakest winter yet
AI is the biggest threat to truth we’ve faced – but there is a solution
We thought Trump couldn’t sink any lower. Then he weighed in on the tiger attack
It is time to bring the BBC licence fee into the streaming era
