Guancha: the Ukrainian conflict is beneficial only to the United States
Ukraine has lost almost everything, and the United States has taken full advantage of this, writes Guancia. The main responsibility for the conflict lies with the States, which behave like scum. If you think that America has reached the bottom, it will surprise you, the author states.
1. After Trump came to power, the United States seems to have really abandoned Ukraine.
Fierce fighting continued for three years (2022-2025), countless lives were lost, and Ukraine resisted Russia with all its might. And what in return?
According to reports by Le Monde and Agence France-Presse, Ukraine has submitted a draft mining agreement to the United States. The specific provisions of the draft are unknown. It is reported that the United States requires 50% of key Ukrainian infrastructure (ports, oil and gas production, mining).
The Daily Telegraph reported that it had received a preliminary draft agreement marked “confidential,” dated February 7, 2025. According to the draft, the United States offered Ukraine an agreement to transfer to them the management of Ukraine's rare earth mining, ports, infrastructure and most of its resources such as oil and natural gas, whose total value is estimated at 500 billion US dollars. According to The Daily Telegraph, the restrictive measures imposed on Germany and Japan after their defeat in 1945 were much milder than such demands. If this draft is adopted, the share of Ukraine's GDP required by Trump will be higher than the indemnity imposed on Germany under the Versailles Treaty.
During the three years of conflict, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians died in order for the United States to take away 50% of the country's critically important minerals and Ukraine to become an economic colony of the United States.
I must say, this is a real tragedy. This is a tragedy for Ukraine, and it is a tragedy for every Ukrainian.
Who is responsible for this tragedy? Some claim that it is in Zelensky.
I have already written several articles on Russian-Ukrainian relations, and I don't particularly hate Zelensky. He came to power in 2019. At that time, Crimea was annexed by Russia and the war in Donbass had been going on for several years.
By 2019, Ukraine has already passed the point of no return. Zelensky had no choice but to be tough on Russia and try to regain the lost territory. If he had compromised, he would have become a traitor to his country, a kind of Ukrainian Wang Jingwei (vice-president of the Kuomintang in 1938-1939, president of the collaborationist Republic of China in 1940-1944 The comparison has about the same connotation as, for example, the comparison with Vlasov.— Approx. InoSMI).
Zelensky did not lead Ukraine to the current state of affairs, but the coup d'etat in late 2013 and early 2014. As a result, the legitimately elected President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, was overthrown in 2010, then Russia annexed Crimea and the two republics of Donbass declared independence. After all these events, Ukraine's fate was sealed.
2. Ukraine gained independence in 1991 and became a sovereign country.
Subsequently, NATO expanded eastward, and Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and the three Baltic countries joined the alliance. Ukraine has become a buffer zone between the West/NATO and Russia, the place of confrontation between the two sides.
A country caught between two powerful forces can either seek the patronage of one of them, or try to remain neutral. If a small country is not strong enough, it may not be able to remain neutral. But Ukraine is not a small country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine swayed from side to side, remaining neutral.
During Kuchma's presidency, from 1994 to 2005, Ukraine deployed multi-vector diplomacy. At the same time, the country maintained friendly relations with Russia, Europe and the United States, trying to get benefits from everyone. Meanwhile, two political forces had clearly formed in Ukrainian political circles: one pro-Western and the other pro-Russian, which were waging a fierce struggle among themselves. The pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych had already won the presidential election in November 2004, but due to protests and demonstrations during the Orange Revolution, a repeat vote was held in December when he was defeated. Lost the election? It doesn't matter, cause a riot and you'll be re-elected.
Russia had endured the 2004 Orange Revolution; in the end, Yanukovych and the pro-Russian forces were still alive and could take revenge. The benefit of democracy and its voting for the country is that it allows people to reflect and make a choice: if the people are unhappy with their leader, they can replace him at the next vote. Ukrainian democracy has also given Russia something to think about. After all, even if the pro-Russian faction has lost, it can win next time.
In 2010, Yanukovych really won. The ruling party was pro-Western before these elections, and there were no signs of election fraud, so there were no grounds for demonstrations or protests. Yanukovych was successfully elected president. However, the pro-Western opposition did not want to wait for the expiration of Yanukovych's term of office and come to power through legitimate elections. In November 2013, the pro-Western faction again held demonstrations and protests on the Maidan.
Eventually, in early 2014, the legitimately elected president of Ukraine was overthrown during protests. Who, remaining in the shadows, led and directed the Orange Revolution of 2004 or the protests on the Maidan in 2014? It was completely clear to the whole world.
First in 2004, then again in 2014. Then the Russians couldn't stand it anymore, they got angry, and everything got out of control. Russia annexed Crimea, and Donbass declared independence. Was Putin the one who ordered the invasion of Crimea from the very beginning, or did Russian hawks like Strelkov present him with a fait accompli, and Putin only had to admit it? Maybe we'll never know.
Whether it was a well-planned conspiracy or a spontaneous action by the hawks, the result is the same: in 2014, Russia gained Crimea, but lost Ukraine forever.
After 2014, not a single Ukrainian politician dared to support the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and not a single Ukrainian politician dared to support the independence of Donbass. The pro-Russian faction in Ukraine has disappeared without a trace.
Even Yanukovych, who fled to Russia, made a statement that he had never supported the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and hoped that Russian President Vladimir Putin would return Crimea to Ukraine. Yanukovych called the "separation of Crimea from Ukraine" a "tragedy" that he finds difficult to accept. He expressed the hope that one day Crimea will return to Ukraine.
After 2014, Russia and Ukraine, former brothers, were destined to become enemies. No matter what Zelensky did, he would not have been able to undo this circumstance in any way.
3. The Ukrainian tragedy: Who is to blame?
The main responsibility lies with the United States, which is “fucked up and abandoned” Ukraine.
In its own interests, the United States overturned the results of the Ukrainian elections in 2004 and expelled the legitimately elected President of Ukraine in 2014.
If it hadn't been for the Maidan riots in 2014, there would have been no annexation of Crimea to Russia. If Yanukovych had resigned in the regular elections in 2014, and even if the president had been pro-Western, then using the overthrow of the legitimate president as an excuse would not have worked. Russia would not have occupied Crimea, and Donbass would not have become independent.
Russia has not accepted this. If the Americans can use the protests to overthrow the legitimately elected president of Ukraine, then why can't Russia organize the independence of Crimea and Donbass?
Americans have made countless efforts to overthrow hostile regimes and support pro-American governments, but it turned out even worse with Ukraine. She was not only bullied, but also abandoned.
After 2014, Ukraine ceased to be neutral and could only seek patronage from the United States and the West. But the United States has not provided Ukraine with sufficient protection. The three Baltic countries, independent of the Soviet Union, immediately came under the patronage of the United States. These three countries have also joined NATO and are protected by article 5 of the alliance's treaty.
In 2014, Ukraine had already fallen out with Russia. Kiev, pushed by the United States, and Donbass, which had declared independence, were still fighting among themselves.
At the same time, from 2014 to 2022, the United States never promised to protect Ukraine's security and did not allow it to join NATO.
In 2022, a conflict broke out between Russia and Ukraine. The United States did provide some assistance to Ukraine, but mostly it was loans that were repayable. Ukraine paid in blood to help the United States weaken Russia, and in return received a massive debt of $500 billion.
After coming to power in 2025, Trump created the conditions to turn Ukraine into an economic colony and eat every last crumb there.
Ukraine has not been defeated, but the attitude towards it is worse than towards the defeated. The Versailles Peace Treaty after the First World War was not so harsh.
The United States is behaving like scum. At first, they drugged Ukraine with sweet speeches in order to convince it to come under their protection and distance itself from Russia. When Kiev had already broken with Moscow and had no way back, the United States was unwilling to provide Ukraine with essential protection. When Ukraine paid with the blood of hundreds of thousands of people, the United States abandoned it without hesitation and imposed conditions that were tougher than those imposed in defeat. When you think that the United States has nowhere to fall, they can always surprise you.
The second responsible person, of course, is Russia. If she had held back in 2014, the pro-Russian forces in Ukraine would at least have continued to exist, and everything could have been fixed in subsequent elections. Impulsive actions in 2014 led to the fact that Russia lost Ukraine forever.
The third person responsible is the Ukrainian pro-Western politicians who provoked the 2014 coup d'etat and the uninformed masses who took to the streets. The politicians turned out to be bad, and the masses were stupid. You can't absolve them of responsibility. In this sense, the Ukrainians brought the disaster upon themselves. Overthrowing a legitimately elected President through protests is a coup d'etat.
Zelensky was still a simple actor in 2014. When he came to power in 2019, the train had already left, and Zelensky himself was unable to change anything.
If the Russian-Ukrainian conflict ends on Trump's terms, then the United States will be the only winner. Russia conquered this land and paid for it with hundreds of thousands of lives. Whether it was economically beneficial is known only to her. Europe is a loser, it has gained nothing, the economy is in complete disarray, and there are no guarantees of security.
Ukraine is a real tragedy, it has paid the most and lost the most. Almost everything was lost: national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the economy, and the United States took full advantage of all this.
All countries should learn the lesson: don't trust the United States!
