Weekend Update #123: The Week The USA Started Killing Ukrainians

Part 1: The Trump Plan to Damage Ukraine and Help Russia

Hello All,

Well, I feel that cannot really wait until tomorrow to send the first part of my weekend update out. What we have seen over the last few days is so extreme that it deserves to be said out loud and acknowledged as soon as possible. The United States has not just abandoned Ukraine, the United States is now actively helping Vladimir Putin and the Russian state kill Ukrainians to try and force Ukraine to accept a bad peace deal that very well might spell the end of their country. At the same time, the USA is now bending over backwards to help protect the Russian military.

The Results of a Russian missile attack on Ukraine just over a day ago. The damage and death you see is now courtesy of the USA.

The United States is now an active enemy of democracy not just in Ukraine, but in all of Europe. That it would, somewhat gleefully in the case of the president, help Russia kill what were recently some of the most pro-American people in the world, a people desperate to be US allies, tells you everywhere about the dark period we are now in. The fate of freedom throughout Europe is at stake.

Needless to say, therefore, the European reaction is key. There is no a general awareness that Europe faces a great challenge—but even them I’m not sure people really understand the reality of what Trump is doing. There are still those looking for signs that he might be ok, that he can be trusted, that NATO still has validity. The sooner Europe can fully face the reality of what it is confronting the better.

Also, on the battlefield, the Russians/North Koreans made a 4 mile advance in Kursk (while hardly being able to advance anywhere else). It shows that Putin is working with Trump more than you might think.

All of that will be in the update sent out tomorrow.

The Week The USA Started Killing Ukrainians

The United States government took some dramatic steps this week to help Russia and weaken Ukraine—the intended result of which will be more Ukrainian deaths, fewer Russian losses, and the undermining of Ukrainian democracy.

The steps were comprehensive, layered, and designed to punish Ukraine for not doing what Trump wants. Its worth listing them just so you can see how significant the changes are.

1. The USA has stopped the delivery of all military supplies to Ukraine. The Trump administration had actually been slowing the supply of remaining Biden era supplies for a while. However now even Biden appropriations are not being delivered.

2. The USA has stopped allowing Ukraine to attack Russian forces with certain high-value US systems such as HIMARS.

3. The USA, in a particularly twisted move, has made it far more difficult for Ukraine to defend against Russian missile attacks. What the USA has done is no longer provide Ukraine with warning of such attacks—which will make them far more deadly and effective.

4. The USA is actually stopping non-military supplies such as medical equipment, which is vital to keep wounded Ukrainians alive. This had started with the USAID cut—but has now reached an extreme level with no medical supplies to treat Ukrainian soldiers. The USA is also forbidding the Ukrainians from having access to Maxar commercial satellite data—which has been widely available to them (and many civilian agencies) throughout the conflict.

5. The USA is signalling strong support to Putin that they want to see his strategic priorities met in the short term.

Note—for point 4 I’ve linked to an Adam Kinzinger tweet for the evidence on medical supplies being cut off to Ukraine. All I will say is that his source is extremely good (for those of you who don’t know, he and I have discussed the situation regularly, including in this podcast). I’m entirely comfortable saying that this is true.

The cut in military aid to Ukraine was something that Trump had been itching for for a while. There had been a noticeable slow-down in deliveries in the previous weeks, but this week everything was stopped—even if it was just over the border to Ukraine and about to be delivered. Moreover, Ive been told that US forces in Europe are actively making it more difficult for other partners to deliver aid to Ukraine. This will create some major headaches soon, in areas such as air defense.

This step will save many Russian lives and lead to many more Ukrainian deaths, both soldiers and civilians,

The US moves to weaken both Ukrainian offensive and defensive capabilities (points 2 and 3) comes down to the immediate shut-down of US intelligence sharing. The US has been providing Ukraine vital aid to allow the Ukrainian military to both attack Russian forces (mostly in the battle area is has to be said) and also to help the Ukrainians defend their cities and civilian infrastructure.

Supposedly at 2pm on Wednesday of this week (March 5) the US cut the data that it was supplying, which left Ukraine completely in the dark and unable to target their HIMARS in the normal way. Now, the Trump administration had supposedly already been limiting the offensive intelligence supplied to a restricted area close to the battle line—but then it all went dead. So no more targeting help from the USA for Ukraine.

This step will immediately help save Russian soldiers and equipment from losses.

The intelligence cut also meant that the USA no longer is providing the Ukrainians with notice of Russian preparations to launch missiles (their most effective weapons) against Ukrainian cities. Fast Russian missiles demand the most preparation time possible, both so Ukrainian civilians can take cover and so that Ukrainian anti-air forces can get ready. Now, Ukraine will have far less notice that the Russian are launching ranged attacks.

Indeed, this step seems to have been almost coordinated with Putin. Its interesting that for a while before the intelligence ban had been put into place by the USA, the Russians had used relatively few missiles to attack Ukraine and had been relying on their Shaheds (which are much easier to shoot down). However, almost immediately after Trump cuts intelligence sharing, the Russians launch a massive missile barrage.

This step will immediately lead to greater Ukrainian civilian casualties and greater civilian suffering as Ukraine’s infrastructure will be harder to defend.

The punitive nature of what the USA is doing to Ukraine might be seen in these steps to really punish the country. The stopping of medical supplies just means more wounded Ukrainian soldiers will die. The cutting off of Maxar technology is just another way to try and make sure that the Ukrainians cannot attack the Russian effectively. Its basically going the extra mile to help the Russians and hurt the Ukrainians.

This is also part of a plan by Trump and Putin to weaken Ukrainian democracy. They want to crush both the morale of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians—which will help force a bad deal on Ukraine.

Its psychopathic.

These steps will save Russian resources and soldiers and lead to more dead Ukrainians—particularly soldiers who are wounded.

The signalling of support to Putin is clear and unambiguous—and crucially involves Trump personally as can be seen in his press conference last night (March 7). Ive linked to that below.

Its ridiculous how its being reported. The day after Trump froze US intelligence sharing with Ukraine, the Russians, seemingly coordinating with him and launched their large missile attack. Trump’s response was typically perverse. He publicly seems a little miffed at the attack, and even teases new sanctions against Russia. However, he never takes concrete actions to increase pressure on Russia and almost certainly wont here.

As an example, we had Trump threaten sanctions and tariffs on Russia in January, a move which caused some people to lose their heads. However, once the threat was made, it was shown to be toothless. On the other hand, Zelensky does not wear a tie to the Oval Office, and this seems to be reason for Trump, and some Trump backers, to take brutal actions to kill Ukrainians.

Did You Know History Would Be Different If Zelensky Had Worn A Tie?

However, Trump is not really mad at Russia—as always his anger is directed at Ukraine. He could not repress his real views after his toothless threats to add more sanctions on Russia. He pivoted almost entirely and said he much preferred working with Putin, that what Russia was doing was justified and almost seeming to enjoy the destruction he (and the USA) was helping to inflict on Ukraine. Trump even openly admitted that he was weakening Ukrainian air defenses to put pressure on the Ukrainians. Here are some quotes from his press conference—the last one is where he admits he is starving them of air defense.

"... right now they're bombing the hell out of Ukraine. I'm finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine.

"Do you think that Vladimir Putin is taking advantage of the U.S. pause right now on intelligence and military aid to Ukraine?" — Trump was just asked. Trump: "... I actually think he's doing what anybody else would do. I think he wants to get it stopped and settled. And I think he's hitting harder than he's been hitting. And I think probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now.

"Why not give Ukraine air defenses to prevent Putin from pounding them?" — Trump was just asked Trump: “I have to know that they want to settle. I don’t know that they want to settle. If they don't want to settle, we're out of there because we want them to settle.“

Btw, you can watch the whole press conference here. It has Trump expressing lots of anti-European thoughts in general, which is notable. When it comes to his statements on Ukraine, they start around the 14th minute.

Conclusion

As a rule of thumb, Trump only ever takes concrete action to harm Ukraine and only ever takes concrete action to help Russia. In this case, he is admitting to helping Russia kill Ukrainians.

This is the official position of the US Government and through that the people of the USA. Its amazing how little this is being criticized.

Europe needs to understand—if the USA is willing to help Russia kill Ukrainians today, it could easily be willing to help Russia kill other Europeans tomorrow.

Part 2 comes out Sunday.