Ukraine Praises Trump for Sanctions on Nord Stream Pipeline

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview on Wednesday that he does not believe the election of former President Donald Trump as president in 2024 would necessarily result in less U.S. support for Ukraine’s war effort. Kuleba explained, “Trump is a person you can work with; you just need to know how.”

Kuleba noted to Ukraine’s NV media outlet:

Who sold the first American weapon to Ukraine? President Trump [sent us] Javelins. Who launched the program of free delivery of the first naval vessels, the Island and Mark VI boats, to Ukraine? Trump. Who fought the Nord Stream 2 project and imposed sanctions on the well-known but already forgotten Fortuna ship that laid this pipeline? It was Trump.

“That’s why Trump is a person you can work with; you just need to know how to work with him. If he makes it to the election and if he wins, he will be completely different from President Joe Biden, to whom we are extremely grateful for everything,” he said.

As Kuleba pointed out, President Trump approved the sale of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine in 2017. The Trump State Department cleared a $39 million sale of defensive weapons to Ukraine in 2019, which included about 150 Javelins.

The U.S. began sending Island-class Coast Guard patrolcraft to Ukraine in 2019. In July 2020, the Trump administration approved the sale of 16 Mark VI high-speed patrol boats to Ukraine, six of them funded with American security assistance money. The Mark VI is a newer design than the Island boats, although the U.S. Navy is already moving on to an even more advanced Mark VII that can operate at high speed in shallow water.

In January 2021, the outgoing Trump administration imposed sanctions on the Russian ship Fortuna and its controlling entities under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Trump signed CAATSA into law in August 2017, imposing new sanctions on Iran and North Korea, as well as Russia. He felt the bill was “seriously flawed” because it unnecessarily restricted “the executive branch’s ability to negotiate,” but he signed it into law for the sake of “national unity” and because it would “punish and deter bad behavior” by the targeted regimes.

The Fortuna was sanctioned for participating in the “construction of Russian energy export pipelines,” specifically the Nord Stream 2 line.

The Trump State Department explained:

Nord Stream 2, if completed, would give Russia the means to completely bypass Ukraine, depriving Ukraine of vital revenues and opening it up to further Russian aggressive actions, while providing the means to use natural resources as a tool of political pressure and malign influence against western Europe.

The administration of President Joe Biden lifted sanctions related to the Nord Stream 2 project in May 2021, immediately before Russian strongman Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately condemned the move and predicted severe danger for his country, describing himself as “unpleasantly surprised” with the Biden administration.

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“It still seems to me that Nord Stream 2 … we understand that this is a weapon, a real weapon, and I speak openly about it,” Zelensky told the Washington, DC, outlet Axios in June 2021.

“A weapon in the hands of the Russian Federation, and it is not very understandable, I feel, and definitely not expected, that the bullets to this weapon can possibly be provided by such a great country as the United States,” Zelensky continued, “Because it is an exemplary civilization, an exemplary democracy in the world.”

In his interview with NV media, Kuleba dismissed speculation that Trump would seek an agreement with Putin to end the war in Ukraine, a deal that would necessarily include some concessions to Russia.

Trump said at a May 2023 town hall that he would resolve the Ukraine conflict within “twenty-four hours” of returning to the White House by meeting with both Putin and Zelensky.

“I don’t think in terms of winning and losing. I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people,” Trump said when asked if he wanted Ukraine to win the war.

Kuleba said it would be “impossible” for Trump to make a “big deal” with Putin “despite all the stories written by various magazines.”

“There are a lot of ‘ifs,’ but Ukraine should not be afraid of anything, no elections and no current or future politicians,” he said.

Trump’s actions on the Russia-Ukraine war are somewhat difficult to predict compared to President Biden’s evident determination to finance Ukrainian resistance indefinitely. A significant portion of the Republican Party has grown skeptical of this unlimited war spending, particularly amid crushing U.S. government debt and a crisis on the U.S. southern border.

Kuleba has lately been peevish with critics of the Ukrainian war effort, which has been stalemated despite spectacular contributions of money and equipment from the United States and Europe.

At a conference in Spain in September, Kuleba said that “criticizing the slow pace of the counteroffensive equals to spitting into the face of the Ukrainian soldier who sacrifices his life every day, moving forward and liberating one kilometer of Ukrainian soil after another.”

“I would recommend all critics to shut up, come to Ukraine, and try to liberate one square centimeter by themselves,” he snapped.

In December, Kuleba said during an interview with Ukrainian media that “Europe doesn’t know how to fight wars.”

“Unfortunately, our friends spent too much time deliberating on how and when to ramp up their production of weapons and ammunition,” he said, lamenting Russia’s more energetic and efficient production of munitions.

“Europe clearly has an advantage in its technology. The problem and challenge they face is scaling up that technology’s production,” he said, advocating a unified U.S.-Russian military production system that could supply Ukraine at a pace comparable to Russia’s state-controlled arms industry.