Zelensky’s big idea for Trump: Ukraine is the Israel of Europe

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky landed in Washington with a bang Tuesday, just days after Ukraine carried out a missile strike against an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea.

The attack appears to be part of Zelensky’s effort to win over President Donald Trump, who has long had a tense relationship with the Ukrainian leader. The pitch is simple: Ukraine is the kind of partner who will take action when others won’t.

As George Beebe of the Quincy Institute put it, Zelensky’s goal is to “convince President Trump that Ukraine will be an Israel-type partner for the United States in Eastern Europe, where it can serve to counter Russian aggression, contain Russian expansionism, and protect Europe and NATO.” Beyond that, Kyiv is hoping to show Trump that it is “even more valuable than America’s NATO allies,” which the president has repeatedly criticized for being insufficiently supportive of his war with Iran.

Zelensky’s gambit is bold, but there is evidence that his argument is gaining purchase on the right. Just last week, MAGA media figure and pro-Israel provocateur Laura Loomer suddenly reversed her years-long criticism of Ukraine, citing in particular the relationship between Russia and Iran. During a visit to the country, she met with Zelensky and pledged to make the case to Trump that he should do more to help Ukraine.

“The reality is that the Iranians are using Russian weapons to kill American soldiers and to attack the United States,” Loomer told Ukrainian media. She also highlighted Zelensky’s recent claim that Russia is supplying Iran with satellite imagery that is “helping them find and kill U.S. soldiers.”

Trump, for his part, appears skeptical of this intelligence connection. “We’ll find out if that’s true,” he told reporters Monday, adding that he would ask Russian President Vladimir Putin about it.

Indeed, there is good reason to doubt the idea that Ukraine is bringing “critical intelligence” to the U.S. about potential Russian involvement in the Iran war, as one Fox News show claimed. “I think that’s simply false,” Beebe said. “The Ukrainians do not have better technical capability than the United States itself to track Russian intelligence satellites and understand what it is they’re looking at over time.”

In practice, these claims are part of a “campaign that is aimed largely at convincing the U.S. public and at convincing the White House that Russia is working closely with Iran to hurt the United States and to facilitate the killing of American military personnel,” he added. “The end goal here is to bring the United States much more directly into Ukraine’s conflict with Russia in ways that I don’t believe serve America’s interests.”

In the near term, Zelensky appears to at least hope that, by helping out with Iran, he can move up on the list of Trump’s priorities and get his hands on more advanced missile defense interceptors, which the U.S. has been rapidly expending in the Middle East. Another seeming goal is to get Trump to give up on peace talks with Russia and return to the Biden administration’s policy of backing Ukraine to the hilt.

But the growing entanglement of these wars is also creating concerns that we are sleepwalking into a wider war that sweeps from eastern Europe down through the Middle East.

For Beebe, the best way to avoid such an escalation is for U.S. officials to engage directly with their Russian counterparts. Noting that Putin has offered to help negotiate a peace deal between Iran and the U.S., Beebe said Trump should “take up the offer” and “look to find a way with Russia to contain the dangers of escalation.”

In this sense, this growing crisis may create the possibility of a broader breakthrough. “That would not only put the Iran conflict on a path toward resolution, but also would build momentum toward a compromised end to the war in Ukraine,” Beebe said.