Viewed from Europe, the US’s failure to defend the people of Ukraine against Russian aggression is the greatest and most consequential of a host of recent American betrayals. Valeriia Deikun, Kate Melmik, Lada Samusenka and Sasha Tsipan at a commemorative rally on the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Grand Parade, Cork. As the full-scale war Putin launched in 2022 stumbles into its fifth bloody year this Tuesday, Europe, like Russia, is in deep trouble. Yet so too is the US, though Trump and his mouthy muppets, Marco Rubio and JD Vance, don’t realise it yet. And where better to start than in Ukraine, the actual and symbolic frontline in the battle between liberal democracy and the Trump-Putin axis?

Source: Irish Examiner February 24, 2026 01:28 UTC