WASHINGTON, July 23. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s "ungrateful" behavior is making the Americans question "the US commitment to Ukraine," former Pentagon official Douglas MacKinnon wrote in a column for The Hill.
He pointed out that last June, US President Joe Biden "lashed out" at Zelensky "regarding his never-ending demands for US aid." "President Biden had barely finished telling Zelensky over the phone that he had just approved another $1 billion in US military assistance when the Ukrainian leader started listing all the additional things he wanted and wasn’t getting," MacKinnon said. Before departing for a NATO summit on June 11, 2023, the Ukrainian president "shockingly whined via Twitter that the Biden administration’s stand on NATO membership for Ukraine was ‘unprecedented and absurd’."
"One year later, the Biden administration is addressing Zelensky’s seeming ingratitude once again. While President Biden was in Vilnius, Lithuania, for the NATO summit, his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, snuck in a barb clearly directed at Zelensky without uttering his name. In rebutting criticism from Zelensky for not extending NATO membership to his nation, Sullivan said the US ‘deserves a degree of gratitude’ for the billions in US taxpayer dollars it has already provided in the defense of Ukraine," MacKinnon noted. He added that "US aid to Ukraine equals or exceeds all of Europe’s combined."
A former high-level Pentagon official told MacKinnon that "Zelensky is acting like a spoiled, petulant child who gets everything he wants and it’s still not enough." "Many in the US government and many of our citizens are growing tired of his act. I can assure you he is burning bridges in Europe as well," he added.
MacKinnon emphasized, citing a Gallup poll, that "more and more Americans from across the political spectrum are starting to question the US commitment to Ukraine and just how much is enough."
However, "the Biden administration - despite its reported rebukes of Zelensky - shows no signs of slowing the support," which is "good for Ukraine and defense contractors, but bad for US taxpayers or those seeking strict accountability regarding the billions in money, aid and military supplies" to Kiev.
"Biden and his team may want to keep sending unaccounted-for billions to Ukraine, but more Americans seem to want to pump the brakes heading into the next series of endless curves. A trend which is likely to grow as the American people take a harder look at the horrific consequences of the war while also deciding to view Zelensky at ground level instead atop a pedestal," MacKinnon concluded.