Before a notorious phone call, the Trump administration was lauded for helping Ukraine

A central irony of the controversy over President Trump’s alleged efforts to condition military aid to Ukraine on political favors is that Trump has presided over the shipment of more lethal weaponry to Ukraine than had his predecessor, President Barack Obama. This was underlined by Thursday’s announcement that the State Department had approved the sale of almost $40 million worth of Javelin antitank missiles and launchers to Ukraine, which follows an earlier shipment of Javelins in early 2018. “Even if there is some delay in the [Trump] administration for some reason, they’re still providing a greater package than what was being provided before,” said a U.S. official who has worked on Ukraine issues. This is despite the fact that Trump is widely considered to be more sympathetic than Obama toward Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. “Early on, when they [Trump and Putin] kind of had that bromance, we were like, ‘Well, this could be really bad for the Ukrainians,’ and then ultimately it wasn’t,” said the U.S. official. Obama’s decision not to supply Javelins to Ukraine followed “a vigorous and ongoing debate” within his administration on the issue, said Tony Blinken, who served as deputy national security adviser from 2013… Read full this story

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