– “I would like you to do us a favor, because our country has gone through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.”
July 25, 2019. Donald Trump, from the residence of the White House, with the headset attached to the ear. Volodimir Zelenski … in kyiv, attentive, after two months in power. It was his first direct conversation, and from the first minute the tone of the call escaped to the protocol.
Trump did not waste time. With a firm voice, he formulated his request: he wanted Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, for his businesses in that country.
– “There is a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped an investigation and many people want to find out more about that, so anything you can do with the attorney general would be great.”
Trump’s language was ambiguous, but the message was clear. Zelenski knew that the fate of his country depended on the United Statesbecause the White House had frozen almost 400 million dollars in military aid, crucial to resist the pressure of Russia, which Crimea had already been annexed in 2014 and had its eyes on the rest of Donbás.
The minutes passed. The conversation was in a dangerous line. Trump insisted. Zelenski followed him, but without committing too much. Thirty minutes. Trump’s farewell was brief, theatrical: “The whole world observes you.”
When the call ended, in one of the white house crisis rooms, an awkward silence seized the officials who had heard the conversation. As it is a protocol in the communications between heads of state, several advisors of the National Security Council and the State Department heard the call while it was produced, taking notes. Among them, Alexander Vindman, Lieutenant Colonel and an expert in Ukraine, who asked a question: was that a quid pro quo?
Had Trump asked Zelenski who intervened in the US elections in exchange for military aid that his country desperately needed? Certainly Joe Biden was the most formidable Democratic candidate to beat Trump a few months later, someone who could win, as he finally did.
Zelesnki meets Trump in New York, in September 2024
Reuters
The bewilderment soon gave way to the alarm. Vindman took note. Another CIA official suggested informing the superiors. As transcription circulated in closed circles within the government, restlessness grew. An anonymous agent filed a formal complaint with the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, Michael Atkinson. The White House tried to block its arrival to the Capitol, but, finally, the then president of the House of Representatives, Nancy Peeli, made a historical decision: announce the opening of an impeachment investigation against Trump.
It was September 9, 2019. Only two days later the 400 million aid to Ukraine were released.
It was the fourth time in the history of the North American Republic in which a president was submitted to political trial. Trump survived, for the support of his party, but his relationship with Zelenski was seen, forever ruined.
In fact, Zelenski never sat down with Trump in the Oval Office. They looked briefly in New York in September 2019, on the banks of the UN General Assembly. Zelenski, visibly uncomfortable, smiled rigidly while Trump talked about Biden, Barack Obama, of Hillary Clinton.
A journalist asked Zelenski if he had pressed a prosecutor on behalf of Trump.
– «We have an independent country and an independent prosecutor. I can’t press anyone. I didn’t call anyone. I didn’t ask for anything. I did not press ».
Since then there would be no trust, there would be no agreements, only cross interests and forced diplomacy.
The French president, Macron, receives Zelenski Ya Trump at the Elyseo Palace
EFE
Zelenski was only invited to the Oval Office by Joe Biden, the man whose family refused to investigate, on September 1, 2021. The tune was different. Biden did not see it as a pawn in a political strategy, but as A key ally in an increasingly unstable Europe. Unlike his predecessor, Biden recognized the real threat represented by Vladimir Putin and the need to strengthen the security of Ukraine.
In that meeting, Biden reaffirmed his support for Ukrainian sovereignty and announced a new help of 60 million dollars in military assistance, including Javelin anti -tank missiles. It was nothing with what would come. No in Washington or in kyiv they could ignore reality: Russia was preparing something bigger.
At the end of 2021, Biden began to alert about imminent invasion, while satellite images showed Russian troops accumulating on the border with Ukraine. Putin denied it, accusing west of hysteria. But in kyiv, the concern grew.
On February 21, 2022, Putin recognized the independence of the self -proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. Three days later, in the early hours of February 24, the Russian troops crossed the border. The invasion had begun.
It was a moment that would define its presidency. The man who had been like Trump a television star now led a nation at war. In Washington, Biden ordered massive economic sanctions against Russia and approved the sending of billions of dollars in arms and military aid to Ukraine.
That 2019 call, which Trump had described as “perfect”, already seemed a distant memory. The story was writing in the battlefields.
But Trump didn’t forget. The reset was still alive. Once the first of his party was secured, in a rally in Ohio in March 2024, he began the insults.
– «Zelenski is one of the best sells in history. Each time it comes to the country, it leaves with 50 or 60,000 million dollars. I have never been able to do that. It is better seller than me ».
The United States help to Ukraine in the war amounts to 175,000 million dollars. According to Trump’s recent criticisms, who has described Zelenski as “dictator” and urged him to call elections in full conflict, the flow of assistance that until now has allowed Ukraine, simply, resist.
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