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Opinion
July 27, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 23
the general reception of the summit. Trump has received a huge portion of criticism back home. The reactions of Americans were pretty strong, with some saying it was a #SurrenderSummit and the most embarrassing foreign voyage of the American president in decades. Most criticism
is directed at Trump's soft reaction on the indictment of 12 Russians, and his suggestion
he has more grounds to trust Putin that Russia didn't interfere in the 2016 election than his own intelligence agencies. Not even to mention the fact that the meeting took place a day before the fourth anniversary of the downing of the MH17 airliner, which was shot down by a Russian
BUK missile that came to Ukraine together with soldiers of the 53 anti-aircraft missile brigade located in Russia’s Kursk. Trump had a perfect occasion to raise the issue and bring up the conclusions of the international joint investigation team that put direct blame on Russia. But he chose a very soft and careful stance towards Putin and decided to mention the ending of the World Cup in Russia instead.
Potentially, it may create some problems back home for him. If it does, it might lead to the tightening of the US position towards Russia to show Putin and his pals that America is not ready to surrender or accept Putin's behaviour. In this case, Ukraine will definitely remain high on the US foreign agenda for one of the most appalling crimes of the Putin regime. So far Ukraine has seen much support from the Senate and Congress
and there are very high chances that this support will remain strong. The last 27 years have proven many times that the worse the relations between Washington and Moscow are, the better it is
for Ukraine. If Trump's recent moves towards normalising and softening his position towards Russia backfire and cause him problems at home, in future he will be more careful before playing along Putin's lines. It means that Ukrainian fears of falling under the radar might be premature. Much more than this summit, Ukraine should fear the growing cracks in the transatlantic community. The recent Nato summit was Trump's manifestation of the new rules of the game
which Europe still doesn't know how to treat. Nevertheless, the reality where the EU is "a foe" and Putin is "a partner" is not good for Ukraine, any more than the Nato turbulence is. The more Western countries are preoccupied with their own problems, the less time they will have for Ukraine and the weaker their response will be if things escalate. With Putin ruling Russia a possible escalation is something Ukraine should always have in mind.
An activist, journalist and co-founder of Global Ukrainians, an international network of Ukrainians worldwide, Kateryna Kruk was awarded the
Atlantic Council Freedom Award for her work communicating the Euromaidan revolution to the world. She predicted a frozen conflict in July 2014, which has largely come to pass, and now comments on the progress of crucial reforms in Ukraine.