What JD Vance Could Not Understand About Ukraine

Ukrainian realities and American unrealities

A memorial to Ukrainian soldiers in Kyiv. (Photo: LJ)

It’s too soon to tell what the global consequences of U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s Oval Office upbraiding of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be. It certainly looks like the U.S. has switched sides to allying with Russia. However, there is reason to be skeptical that this about-face will actually result in a lasting partnership: Russia has no alliances with major powers. (It is a junior partner to China.) European countries will have to make painful choices now--including freezing Russian assets, cutting generous social benefits, and raising debt--to defend themselves from fighting an even larger war. In this meeting, which went off the rails with Vance's reality-TV-style accusation that Zelenskyy hadn't thanked Trump, one exchange stood out to me:

Vance: Mr. President, Mr. President, with respect. I think it’s disrespectful for you to come to the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict.

Zelenskyy: Have you ever been to Ukraine? You say what problems we have.

Vance: I have been to—

Zelenskyy: Come once.

Vance: I’ve actually watched and seen the stories, and I know what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you’ve had problems bringing people into your military?

Zelenskyy responded that every country has problems in war, and Trump ranted at him. In the meeting, the contrast between unreality and reality stuck out to me. By that, I mean that Zelenskyy made light of the very real problem that Putin hasn't respected ceasefires without security guarantees, while the American administration was speaking in grievances and whataboutism. (Trump responded to the ceasefire concern: "What if anything? What if a bomb drops on your head right now? OK?") Even when Vance pointed out a real problem about Ukraine's manpower, Trump did not allow Zelenskyy to answer and Vance had no answer to why he had not gone to Ukraine. (He is skiing in Vermont this weekend.) 

I am in Kyiv now, and what Vance could not grasp is that Ukrainians are fighting for their right to exist in a sovereign, independent state, and they are not about to give up because Trump wants them to accept a Putin-friendly ceasefire.