Trump's 'favor' and delay of U.S. aid weakened Ukraine in the fight against Russia
KYIV, Ukraine - President Donald Trump's decision to press Ukraine's new leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for a "favor" while withholding much-needed military aid to the country has weakened a key U.S. ally in the fight against Russian aggression.
With clashes against Russia-backed separatists ramping up in some pockets of eastern Ukraine, Zelenskiy, a comic-turned-reformer, now finds himself preoccupied with ensuring he has U.S. support while also staying out of a spiraling American political fight.
"Putin must be rubbing his hands with joy," said Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who seized Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in 2014. "It is one more proof for Putin that Zelenskiy is very inexperienced and weak as a politician. Putin can toy with him like
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