EditThe leader of the free world
Trump’s presidency has become a pyrotechnic display of indecision - spectacular, loud, and mostly smoke
Putin can still negotiate peace, but it would be by accident, writes Sed Tkachuk
Volodymyr (Sed) Tkachuk is a communications specialist and free-lance journalist, signing Sed Tkachuk.
“I could end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours.” — Donald Trump, CNN Town Hall, 2023
“Putin’s a genius. He’s taking over a country for two dollars’ worth of sanctions.” — Donald Trump, February 2022
“Ukraine can now reclaim all occupied territories.” — Donald Trump, UNGA Week, September 2025
“We will provide Ukraine with targeting intelligence for deep strikes inside Russia.” — U.S. Defense Official, October 2025
Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has been ongoing for 11 years. The full-scale war has been raging since February 2022. In that time, Vladimir Putin’s “special operation” has turned into a continental crisis – and Donald Trump’s foreign policy into a tragicomic farce.
Even before returning to power, Trump had already left his fingerprints on Ukraine’s battle plan. He pressured Republicans in Congress not to vote for aid, freezing packages of artillery shells, generators, and winter gear. As the frontlines froze, Washington debated loyalty tests to Mar-a-Lago.
When the Kakhovka dam, on Ukraine’s largest river, burst, blown up by Russian soldiers – drowning entire villages and fields – Trump’s reaction was as hollow as the crater it left: “It still needs to be investigated who blew it up.” For a man obsessed with ratings, the footage from Kherson must not have tested well.
This story began with the promise that became prophecy – or parody. In May 2023, on live television, Trump vowed to “end the war in 24 hours.” He didn’t say how; he didn’t need to. It was the kind of soundbite that fit perfectly between commercials for gold coins and dietary supplements.
That single boast captured his worldview: complex wars can be cancelled like subscriptions. It also set the stage for a foreign policy defined by contradiction – from admiration for Putin to erratic threats and eventual reversals dressed up as strategy.
In February 2022, as Russian tanks rolled toward Kyiv, Trump called Putin a “genius.” He admired the move’s “savvy,” the kind of flattery that made autocrats blush and diplomats cringe. Strength, to Trump, was virtue enough.
Once elected, Trump turned his instincts into policy. He froze $3.5 billion in weapons already budgeted under Biden. He promised “fire and fury” sanctions on Russia – thrice – and delivered none.
Even as Russian troops captured and then mined Zaporizhzhia’s nuclear plant, Trump said nothing. The art of the deal apparently includes selective muteness.
By mid-2023, he was still alternating between blaming NATO for weakness and praising himself for deterrence-by-absence. “If I were president, none of this would have happened,” he said, apparently forgetting that the last time he held office, an invasion was already underway: the Russians had already seized Crimea and part of Donbas.
In February 2024, Trump unveiled his doctrine: “Encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want” to NATO members who hadn’t “paid their dues.”
It was meant as tough love; it sounded like state-sanctioned arson.
Europe grimaced, NATO ignored him, and the alliance quietly expanded its air defences while pretending not to hear the pyromaniac in Washington.
The first Trump–Zelenskyy meeting, in late 2024, fizzled. No smiles, no statement. Just awkward silence — and a hint that future aid might come with invoices attached.
By February 2025, the relationship imploded. In the Oval Office, he demanded a minerals-for-aid arrangement, offering support only if America got a cut of Ukraine’s resource revenues. When Zelenskyy wavered , Trump stormed out.
What followed was a textbook tantrum in policy form: aid suspended, intel sharing cut off, and Washington sulking as if betrayal were bilateral.
Europeans tried to save the relationship with a meeting at the Vatican and constant high-level visits to Mar-a-Lago.
By summer, Trump found new company. At the Alaska summit, he met Putin – the same man he once called a “genius.” There, between cameras and cold fronts, Trump suggested Ukraine might have to “cede territory to secure peace.”
It was the clearest signal yet: America’s self-styled dealmaker was now freelancing for Moscow’s talking points.
Then came September – and the great post-London pivot. Suddenly, Trump announced Ukraine could “reclaim all occupied territory.”
He smiled beside Zelenskyy, declared NATO should shoot down Russian planes, and approved a new ally-financed arms package paid by Europeans. From appeaser to arsonist to arms dealer – all in a fiscal quarter.
Moscow mocked him; Europe nodded politely; Ukraine took the weapons and kept fighting.
October sealed the circle. The U.S. – under Trump’s watch – is beginning to provide targeting intelligence for Ukrainian deep strikes inside Russia. The same man who once halted aid now greenlit escalation. Every reversal was presented as revelation. Each U-turn framed as foresight. Trump didn’t just contradict himself – he rebranded it as strategy.
Through it all, Ukraine endured. Despite policy freezes, empty boasts, and broken promises, Kyiv fights on. Cities rebuild between blackouts, soldiers fight with ingenuity, not permission, and a nation free in spirit from birth is fighting for its own freedom – and now for Europe’s security as well.
Trump’s presidency has become a pyrotechnic display of indecision – spectacular, loud, and mostly smoke. He calls it peace through strength; the world calls it chaos with subtitles. He may yet negotiate peace – by accident.
But the world’s fate now rests in the hands of a man who can’t remember yesterday’s stance.
Caption: US President Donald J. Trump tees off as he plays golf at the opening ceremony for the Trump International Golf Links in Balmedie, Scotland, Britain, 29 July 2025. This is the final day of the private visit to Scotland by President Trump. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN
Updated: October 3, 2025 - 06:37
