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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Jonathan Freedland

Ukraine has exposed Trump’s true identity: as a vandal, an autocrat, a gangster and a fool

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Donald Trump and JD Vance in conversation.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with Donald Trump and JD Vance at the White House, 28 February 2025. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

To see the true face of Donald Trump, look no further than Ukraine. Laid bare in his handling of that issue are not only his myriad weaknesses, but also the danger he poses to his own country and the wider world – to say nothing of the battered people of Ukraine itself.

Don’t be fooled by the mild, vaguely theatrical rebuke Trump issued to Vladimir Putin on Thursday after Moscow unleashed a deadly wave of drone strikes on Kyiv, killing 12 and injuring dozens: “Vladimir, STOP!” Pay attention instead to the fact that, in the nearly 100 days since Trump took office, the US has essentially switched sides in the battle between Putin’s Russia and democratic Ukraine, backing the invaders against the invaded.

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