American hostility towards Ukraine also extends to Europe

Yesterday, Ukrainian forces resumed strikes on Russian refineries, in particular the one in Novokuybyshevsk – the largest of Rosneft’s group of plants in the Samara region – which produces, in particular, fuel for the Su-27 fighter jets and Tu-22M3 bombers that the Russians are using against the Ukrainians. For almost a week, the government in Kyiv had suspended attacks on the refineries, as a conciliatory gesture toward the Trump administration, which in the meantime had struck a deal with Vladimir Putin over diesel, lifted sanctions on Russia, sabotaged the PURL mechanism for arms supplies, suspended the sharing of intelligence on early warnings of Russian missile strikes against Ukrainian cities, and allowed Elon Musk to reduce the flow of satellite intelligence to the front line. Putin never ceased his attacks; the Ukrainians suspended those that were unwelcome to Donald Trump, but on Thursday the Russians struck the Dnipro station, killing sixteen people, in addition to the daily sporadic attacks on civilians, petrol stations and industrial facilities, and the government in Kyiv received confirmation that going along with Trump’s about-turn is a deadly choice. The Russians have publicly complained; they seemed just like the Americans.

“They disobeyed and, I would go so far as to say, ignored Trump’s request not to attack our refineries,” said Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s adviser involved in talks with the Trump administration, with a touch of indignation. In the report published by the Wall Street Journal yesterday morning, which detailed the suspension of Ukrainian attacks, Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, Jared Kushner, is quoted as having intervened whilst joining remotely a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the other envoy, Trump’s friend and property developer, Steve Witkoff: Kushner told Zelensky to suspend attacks on Russian refineries because he and Witkoff were devoting a great deal of time, energy and fuel to mediating with Moscow, and that would be the appropriate way for Zelensky to say thank you.

The pressure from Washington on Ukraine, whilst Putin is causing dozens of deaths and attacking cities with impunity, shows no sign of easing. According to information from the Washington Sun, the Trump Administration has also blocked aid allocated to Ukraine through the International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INCLE) programme: during a meeting with congressional staff in late September, several State Department officials stated that they had received instructions from the White House to halt future funding for INCLE, which assists the Ukrainian police, border guards and other security personnel in protecting civilians and infrastructure.

But the pressure is not limited to Ukraine: it also concerns Europe. According to a Reuters exclusive published yesterday, in recent weeks Pentagon officials have asked certain NATO countries – notably Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – to tone down their rhetoric regarding the threat from Russia, arguing that the accusations made by European leaders have undermined the continent’s security. Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon undersecretary leading the ongoing review of US commitment in Europe (the outcome is expected to be announced by the end of the year), is said to have been one of the messengers. Once again, the Americans are speaking like the Russians, who deny any kind of attack or sabotage against European countries. “We do not want any war in Europe,” Putin himself said on Thursday, but we are ready to fight one – which is precisely the rhetoric the Russian president used in December 2021 as he was preparing the invasion of Ukraine, claiming that it was the West that was threatening and warmongering (then, as now, there is also debate about the architecture of European security, which is nothing other than Russia’s demand that NATO return to its 1997 borders).

The Russian-American stranglehold on Ukraine and Europe is tightening ever further, but the crush is not inevitable. Trump is unable to find buyers for Russian diesel because Congress – which currently has a Republican majority – is threatening to prosecute anyone who purchases it, given that the law on secondary sanctions (the one championed by Senator Lindsey Graham) is in force. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (who is subject to US sanctions) attended the G20 foreign ministers’ summit in Atlanta, USA, but his European counterparts scuppered the group photo by declaring they did not wish to appear alongside the Russian official who is tormenting Ukraine. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, ignoring the U.S. request to tone down his rhetoric, declared: “Putin is a dictator who kills women and children”.