INDIANAPOLIS — On the day that President Donald J. Trump’s envoy — Steve Witkoff — stood in the Kremlin and praised the Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin for being a “humanitarian,” we witnessed the death of Inna Maryukhna, a 28-year-old school teacher, and her one-year-old daughter, Angelina.
Mother and daughter were killed when a Russian Shahed attack drone struck a park in Nova Vodolaha in Ukraine. The searing image the whole world witnessed was Angela’s tiny corpse still strapped into her stroller.
The United States of America has switched sides, now aligned with an axis that includes Russia and China. The U.S. is abandoning Ukraine. NATO could be next.
President Donald J. Trump has made these decisions in a cascading fashion over the past weeks. On Oct. 9, after a lengthy phone call with Russian President Putin, he announced a diesel fuel “deal” that would essentially fund the Kremlin’s genocidal war against Ukraine. Last Friday night, Trump suspended the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, which Congress passed with bipartisan support.
Asked Saturday evening why he waived the sanctions, Trump told reporters, “A lot of you don’t know what my decision is yet, but we’ll figure it out, and you’ll figure it out.” Trump said it was in our “national interests.”
On Oct. 1, Trump unilaterally announced an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine. That was news to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who briefly went along with the ruse while Putin launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones at civilian Ukrainian targets: parks, schools, apartment buildings, power plants.
On Oct. 13, a wide-scale Russian missile assault hit Kyiv without the usual warning provided by U.S. intelligence services. The next day, Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk lowered speeds for Ukraine on its Starshield defense platform, leaving that embattled nation exposed to a Russian ballistic missile and jet-powered drone onslaught aimed at an array of civilian targets. Trump and Musk blamed each other, but the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk, a private citizen, made this military decision.
When Zelenskyy was asked if Starshield had been restored, he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, “No, no, not of course. We have limitation. So we didn’t see attacks of Russia using ballistic missiles.”
The U.S. had suspended the sharing of vital intelligence with Ukraine’s military. The Wall Street Journal reported this past Monday that Trump wants a Ukraine peace summit with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping next month in Shenzhen, China — but without Zelenskyy. Trump has invited Putin to the G20 Summit at Mar-a-Lago later this fall.
A historically unpopular American president is making these decisions with a Russian dictator accused of war crimes who has launched a predatory war that has killed more than a million people. There has been virtually no dialogue with the American people on this shift and little input from Congress.
Why? Perhaps it’s the coming international asset selloff of Lukoil, a huge Russian energy conglomerate, due to 2025 U.S. sanctions. Reuters reported these assets are worth $22 billion. Witkoff, Jarred Kushner and Elon Musk — none of which are U.S. officials — are telling Trump to abandon Ukraine ... for an oil deal.
This comes with the acquiescence of Indiana’s congressional delegation. On June 4, all Hoosier Republicans voted against the Ukraine Support Act, which would have authorized $8 billion in military and security assistance and extend the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative through 2027. On Sept. 16, except for Democratic U.S. Rep. André Carson, the delegation voted for the Graham Act sanctions package, which Trump suspended late Friday night.
Have any members of the Hoosier delegation protested the Graham Act suspension? Nope.
The conservative Wall Street Journal Editorial Board described it as Trump sticking “a shiv in the back of the legacy of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.”
Conservative commentator Andrew C. McCarthy wrote in the National Review that Trump is giving Putin “aid and comfort,” adding, “The Russian regime is actively abetting Iran’s military operations against the United States, providing intelligence for targeted attacks on U.S. personnel, as well as drone weaponry.”
Putin’s buddy Kirill Dmitriev, who manages a Russian wealth fund, posted an image on social media of an American eagle next to a Russian bear, snarling at a British lion, with the caption, “Things have changed.” Dmitriev hailed Trump’s Graham Act suspension, posting, “Checkmate.”
Zelenskyy told Bloomberg News over the weekend, “I believe steps have been taken to convince Ukraine to capitulate.”
“Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker asked Zelenskyy whether Ukraine could prevail over Russia without the United States. “Very difficult,” Zelenskyy responded. “If it’s without United States support, it’s very difficult. But if the United States will support Putin, I mean, it’s unbelievable. It’s tragedy.
“If the United States will take, officially take the side of Russia ... we will not prevail, and we will not be able to stand.”
This comes as Putin’s drones are strafing European airports and defense facilities. It comes at a time when Poland is building new bomb shelters and civilians in the three Baltic nations are training for guerrilla warfare for what they perceive to be an inevitable Russian invasion as Putin seeks to reconstitute the Soviet Union.
One that President Ronald Reagan described as an “evil empire.”
This is a betrayal of a democracy we guaranteed its security in 1994 when Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal.
This is Munich-grade appeasement.
Brian A. Howey is an opinion columnist for State Affairs Indiana and the founder of Howey Politics Indiana. His writing offers analysis and opinion shaped by decades of experience covering Indiana politics. Email him at howey@stateaffairs.com.
