By David Sole
For months leading up to his November 2024 election Donald Trump promised to end the Ukraine war “in 24 hours” if elected. Following his January 2025 inauguration Trump continued to promise an end to the Ukraine war and even began cutting U.S. aid.
Of course, the war had been planned and prepared for by the United States, starting with the February 2014 CIA-backed coup in Kiev. Then began the buildup of a Ukrainian military with training and weapons from the U.S. and other NATO imperialist powers. No secret was made of the goal – draw Russia into a war that would weaken the Russian Federation or even cause a regime change in Moscow with the ouster of President Putin.
Russia had, for decades, made it clear that it would not permit NATO military bases, troops or missiles along its 1000-mile border with Ukraine. Responding to all these provocations, Russia launched its Special Military Operation into Ukraine in February 2022.
By the time of Trump’s taking office (for the second time) Ukraine was clearly losing the conflict. Sections of the U.S. ruling class realized this and decided that disengaging from the Ukraine quagmire would be wise. Doing so would also allow a “pivot” by the U.S. to confront the People’s Republic of China economically and militarily. They saw Trump as an instrument to accomplish these goals.
Predictably Trump has been unable to alter Russia’s policy goals. His reported anger at Putin actually reflects the frustrations of his ruling class backers and the strength of U.S. imperialist interests in subordinating the Russian Federation to its will. On July 8, the media reported a “reversal” of Trump’s policy, announcing that “Trump pledges to send more weapons to Ukraine.”
The New York Times, only days earlier, had lamented the critical state of Ukraine’s military. The Times reported “Ukrainian troops struggle to hold the line on the Eastern Front.” The Eastern Front is the main theater of combat, not an isolated area. And the condition of the Ukrainians was exposed as so desperate that even their wounded soldiers could not be evacuated! Earlier reporting had admitted that Russian forces have been advancing all along the front, totally liberating the Lugansk People’s Republic and even entering the Dnipropetrovk Province to the west of the Donetsk People’s Republic.
It would be incorrect to attribute Trump’s reversal on arming Ukraine to personal issues between him and President Putin, even though Trump has stated his anger at Putin. The Russian leader has never wavered on the basic goals of his military intervention – no NATO membership for Ukraine along with the denazification and disarmament of that neighbor. The neocon, militarist wing of the U.S. ruling class is still powerful and is influencing Trump back into escalating the war.
Russia, meanwhile, continues to advance on all fronts. The New York Times, on May 29 declared “Russia Appears to Launch New Offensive in Ukraine.” The article reported “After incremental gains for months, Russian forces are advancing on Ukrainian battlefields at the fastest pace this year. They are bombarding Ukrainian cities with some of the biggest drone and missile strikes of the war. They have even opened another front in northern Ukraine. The Kremlin’s summer offensive appears to be underway.”
The U.S. public is still woefully unaware of the true history of this conflict and the principal role the U.S. government has had in the planning and execution of the battle plans of their Ukrainian proxies. It is critical for poor and working people to understand and take action against their own government who is now spending well over one trillion dollars a year on the Pentagon budget.
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