Trump’s Sharp Shift on Ukraine and Russia

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Shortly after the contentious meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and President Trump on Friday, the Trump administration began discussions about cutting off or reducing military assistance.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Trump Suspends Military Aid to Ukraine After Oval Office Blowup” (nytimes.com, March 3) and “Pentagon to Stop Offensive Cyberoperations Against Russia” (news article, March 4):

President Trump’s temporary pause of military aid to Ukraine is as cruel as it is consequential. That this destructive move comes not long after we learned that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. Cyber Command to halt offensive operations against Russia is head-spinning. Russia is a hive of nefarious cybermischief and criminals actively seeking to sow chaos and political instability across the free world.

The president’s continued pivot to Vladimir Putin is sending a glaring message that appears to confirm that U.S. policy is indeed falling into alignment with Russia. It remains to be seen if more than a few scattered Republican Senate and House leaders will find their misplaced moral compass and misplaced courage and check the president’s reckless behavior before it’s too late.

Cody Lyon
Brooklyn

To the Editor:

I am outraged that Donald Trump has suspended aid to Ukraine. This is wrong on so many levels.

First and foremost, given a choice between supporting Ukraine and the liberal world order versus Vladimir Putin’s Russia and its cadre of autocracies and dictatorships, the vast majority of Americans would surely favor the former, or at least not lend deference to the latter. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for our president — and that is, or at least should be, a startling realization.

This is the action of a petulant child, offended at not having sufficient deference paid to his inflated idea of himself. How and why such a flawed person commands such deference bewilders me.

It’s true that Mr. Trump and his minions can rain down a flood of disdain on dissenters, but in the end he’s just a bully, and bullies need to be confronted and shown to be what they are.

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