By the time this edition of the Kyiv Post went to press, U. S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was set to start a full day of meetings in Kyiv with political, business, government and civil society leaders on Jan. 31. Expectations were low for a number of reasons. First and foremost, U. S. President Donald J. Trump is believed to have a hostile opinion of Ukraine, blaming its leaders for interfering on Hillary Clinton’s behalf in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. And Pompeo also dashed hopes by recently asking a National Public Radio reporter: “You think Americans care about Ukraine?” and challenging her, in an obscenity-laced tirade, to find the nation on a map.
Trump looks set to be acquitted at his impeachment sham trial by the Republican-controlled Senate, even though all the credible evidence shows he tried to shake down President Volodymyr Zelensky by holding up $391 million in aid and a White House meeting unless the Ukrainian leader delivered dirt on Joseph Biden.
While crude and revealing, the impeachment saga has motivated Ukrainians and their global support network to tell the nation’s true story — including its importance to democracies worldwide as it shakes off Russian imperialism and the legacy of Soviet corruption.
In Chicago, more than 250 people gathered on Jan. 26 to hold up placards that read: “We Care About Ukraine,” writes Ukrainian-American Marta Farion. Kurt Volker and William B. Taylor penned op-eds explaining Ukraine’s importance. The Anti-Corruption Action Center’s executive director, Daria Kaleniuk, wrote an op-ed about what Ukrainian-Americans can do to show their support for Ukraine.
Ukraine has truth and virtue on its side against Russia’s ugly war. The right side should prevail, despite Russia’s superiority in many areas. But it will take work.
Meanwhile, Trump appears fixated on the discredited notions that Ukraine worked against him in the 2016 vote, that Joe Biden got a prosecutor fired to protect his son Hunter, and that Ukraine — not Russia — was responsible for e-mail hacks during the U.S. campaign four years ago.
Some hope that Pompeo will announce a date for a White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky. Some wanted him to name the administration’s choice for new ambassador (he said he won’t). Whatever happens, however, Trump has damaged the U.S. reputation among Ukrainians. There’s no chance that Ukrainian officials will publicly criticize the U.S. or any of its politicians, either Republican or Democrat. America is too important of an ally to anger despite Trump’s shameless actions.
“The main hope is that this is about reaffirming support for Ukraine as America’s ally and not a reelection mission for Trump,” Alyona Getmanchuk, the director of the New Europe Center in Kyiv, told Foreign Policy in an article headlined: “Behind Pompeo’s Big ‘We Care’ Trip to Ukraine.”
She’s right.
