Letters from an American
· collected 2026-10-11 · by Heather Cox Richardson
commentary
So now, after more than a decade of pretending that he is not associated with Russia and that he would honor the U.S. national security position of support for Ukraine and our European allies, Trump is openly backing Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.
asserted
Trump → pretend → president
Asked today by a reporter about concerns that his dropping of sanctions against Russian oil yesterday would funnel money to Putin’s war on Ukraine, Trump blamed Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky for prolonging the war:
“Zelensky could have settled this war many times.
uncertain
Zelensky → ask → war
Many, many times,” Trump said, “And he chooses not to.”
asserted
he → say → ?
Trump blamed Zelensky for the high cost of diesel because Ukrainian forces have targeted Russian oil refineries, although since Russian oil was sanctioned, the actual chokepoint for diesel prices is the Strait of Hormuz, largely closed because of Trump’s war on Iran.
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chokepoint → blame → Iran
Trump accused Zelensky of wanting “to make problems for the world.
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Trump → accuse → world
He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel, because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world.”
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Russia → want → world
Ukrainians have hit Russian oil refineries to stop the flow of money into Russia as it evades sanctions and sells oil through its so-called shadow fleet.
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it → hit → fleet
Russia, in contrast, has been striking civilian targets in violation of the laws of war.
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Russia → strike → war
Trump continued with a warning to Zelensky, saying “he’d better damn well stop.”
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he → continue → Zelensky
Ukraine continues to fight against Russia because Russia has invaded Ukraine and is trying to occupy Ukraine’s eastern industrial area in violation of the United Nations charter that vows no country will use threats or force against another’s territorial integrity.
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country → continue → integrity
Until Trump took office, the United States was the key guarantor of this principle.
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States → take → principle
The U.S. has stood against Russia’s 2014 and 2022 invasions of Ukraine not only because of the principle of territorial sovereignty, but also because of security guarantees the U.S., along with the United Kingdom and Russia, gave to Ukraine in 1994.
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U.S. → stand → 1994
After the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991, Ukraine had the third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world.
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Ukraine → crumble → world
In exchange for Ukraine’s giving up those weapons, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia agreed to secure Ukraine’s borders.
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States → give → borders
In the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, they agreed they would not use military force or economic coercion against Ukraine.
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they → agree → Ukraine
Then Russian leader Vladimir Putin worked to bring Ukraine under the sway of the Russian oligarchs who rose to replace the region’s communist leaders, monopolizing formerly publicly held industries as those industries were privatized.
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industries → work → industries
American journalist Paul Klebnikov, the chief editor of Forbes in Russia, was murdered in 2004 after calling attention to what the oligarchs were doing.
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oligarchs → murder → what
In that same year, a Russian-backed politician, Viktor Yanukovych, appeared to be elected president of Ukraine.
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politician → back → Ukraine
But the election was so full of fraud—including the poisoning of a key rival who wanted to break ties with Russia and align Ukraine with Europe—the government voided the election and called for a do-over.
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government → include → over
Yanukovych needed a makeover fast, and for that he called on an American political consultant with a reputation for making unsavory characters palatable to the media: Paul Manafort.
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characters → need → media
For ten years, from 2004 to 2014, Manafort worked for Yanukovych and his party, trying to make what the U.S. State Department called a party of “mobsters and oligarchs” look legitimate.
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called → work → mobsters
He made a fortune thanks to his new friends.
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He → make → friends
In 2010, Yanukovych finally won the presidency on a platform of rejecting NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization through which Europe joined together to oppose first the USSR, and then the rising threat of Russia.
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Europe → win → Russia
Immediately, Yanukovych turned Ukraine toward Russia.
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Yanukovych → turn → Russia
Then, in 2014, after months of popular protests, Ukrainians ousted Yanukovych from power in what is known as the Revolution of Dignity.
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what → oust → Dignity
He fled to Russia.
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He → flee → Russia
Shortly after Yanukovych’s ouster, Russia invaded Ukraine’s Crimea and annexed it, prompting the United States and the European Union to impose economic sanctions on Russia itself and also on specific Russian businesses and oligarchs, prohibiting them from doing business in the United States and in its territories.
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Russia → invade → territories
These sanctions hurt Russia and froze the assets of key Russian oligarchs, including Putin.
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sanctions → hurt → Putin
Now without his main source of income, Manafort owed about $17 million to allies of Yanukovych and Putin, especially Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska.
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Manafort → owe → Yanukovych
By 2016, his longtime friend and business partner Roger Stone was advising the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, and Manafort was happy to step in to help.
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Manafort → advise → Trump
He did not take a salary.
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He → take → salary
He began as an advisor in March 2016 and became the campaign chairman in late June, after meeting on June 9 with Don Jr., Jared Kushner, and Russian operatives.
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He → begin → Jr.
It turned out that Russia was looking for a way to grab the Ukrainian land it wanted without continuing to fight.
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it → turn → land
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election explained that Manafort and his partner, Russian operative Konstantin Kilimnik, in summer 2016 “discussed a plan to resolve the ongoing political problems in Ukraine by creating an autonomous republic in its more industrialized eastern region of Donbas, and having [Russian-backed Viktor] Yanukovych, the Ukrainian President ousted in 2014, elected to head that republic.”
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Yanukovych → explain → republic
The Mueller Report continued: “That plan, Manafort later acknowledged, constituted a ‘backdoor’ means for Russia to control eastern Ukraine.”
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Russia → continue → Ukraine
The region that Putin wanted was the country’s industrial heartland.
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Putin → want → that
He was offering a “peace” plan that would carve off much of Ukraine and make it subservient to him.
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it → offer → him
This was the exact opposite of U.S. policy for a free and united Ukraine, and there was no chance that former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who was running for the presidency against Trump, would stand for it.
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who → unite → it
But if Trump were elected, the equation changed.
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equation → elect → ?
According to the Republican-dominated Senate Intelligence Committee, Kilimnik wrote: “[a]ll that is required to start the process is a very minor ‘wink’ (or slight push) from D[onald] T[rump] saying ‘he wants peace in Ukraine and Donbass back in Ukraine’ and a decision to be a ‘special representative’ and manage this process.”
uncertain
he → accord → process
…and 25 more, not listed.
The Aporia
