Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton accused the president of “effectively surrendering to Putin on Ukraine” following Trump’s recent conversation with the Russian leader and statements by the new Pentagon chief about Ukraine’s territorial goals.
“It is unconscionable to allow Russia to assault Ukraine’s sovereignty, recruit enemies like North Korea to aid in their fight, and then sell out the Ukrainians by conceding the loss of their territory and NATO security guarantees or membership,” Bolton wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on 13 February. By making these and others concessions before negotiations even started, Trump has effectively surrendered to Putin on Ukraine.”
The criticism comes after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegset stated on 12 February that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is “not a realistic goal” and suggested NATO membership would not be a realistic outcome of peace negotiations. On the same day, Trump held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which the US president claimed they had agreed on wanting to “stop the millions of deaths happening in the Russia/Ukraine war.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later confirmed having a “lengthy conversation” with Trump about the possibility of achieving peace and readiness to work together at the team level.
Bolton, who served as National Security Advisor from April 2018 to September 2019, warned that Trump’s approach would have consequences beyond Eastern Europe. “The harm to US security interests will extend well beyond Central Europe, as our adversaries in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific can plainly see,” he stated.
Bolton emphasized that US leaders must “stand unequivocally with Ukraine and whatever NATO allies stick with Kyiv,” arguing that allowing “the Kremlin’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine to prevail” goes against American national interests. “Shame on the Trump Administration,” he added.
The former advisor noted that despite Russia’s “miserable” military performance, Trump continues to “vindicate Putin’s decision to invade.” Bolton has previously been critical of Trump’s foreign policy decisions, particularly regarding Russia and Ukraine, since leaving his position in the administration.
Following the call with Putin, Trump refused to call Ukraine an equal participant in upcoming peace talks and stated he doesn’t believe it is “practical” for Ukraine to join NATO.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy warned against talks over the head of Ukraine, which would violate a long-standing Ukrainian diplomacy objective: nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.
“Imagine that Hitler wasn’t destroyed…Imagine that after everything he did to the Jews…people said, okay, let’s look for a compromise,” Zelenskyy said in his interview for the Economist.
