“Inadequate and failed” foreign policy – ​​Update on the war in Ukraine on July 17

Republican presidential candidate in the USA, Donald Trump, announced his first rally since his near assassination three days ago at a rally in Pennsylvania. An appearance is planned for Saturday in Grand Rapids, Michigan, together with his new running mate, Senator JD Vance (R-OH).

The announcement came on the second day of the Republican National Convention in nearby Milwaukee, Wisconsin (which, like Michigan, is considered a swing state). Former opponents present there on Tuesday included Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and venture capitalist-turned-pharmaceutical entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, all of whom came out strongly in support of their former rival.

Also on stage was former vice presidential candidate Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who immediately attacked the current administration’s foreign policy.

“All over the world, the irresponsible and failed Joe Biden has created chaos and weakened our national security: from the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to the Hamas terrorist attack on our most valuable ally, Israel,” Stefanik said.

Haley, the former UN ambassador, blamed Biden and former President Barack Obama for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“But when Donald Trump was president, Putin did nothing… no invasions, no wars. That was no accident. Putin did not attack Ukraine because he knew Donald Trump was tough,” she said.

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Trump chooses Ukraine opponent as running mate

“They’re celebrating in Moscow tonight,” former Illinois state Rep. Adam Kinzinger said of Trump’s vice presidential nominee, JD Vance.

Trump and Vance watched the event from a VIP box along with Stefanik and rabidly anti-Ukraine Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Haley, who has promised a much more supportive stance on aid to Kyiv, had declared during her campaign that the United States “cannot endure another four years of chaos” under Trump. AFP reported that her appearance was not expected. She was the biggest threat to Trump and had won the support and money of some of the party’s most influential backers, so her absence from the RNC may have been understandable.

On the other hand, the man who once swore he was a “never-Trumper,” Vance, was chosen as his running mate even though he had publicly called the former president “America’s Hitler” and said you’d have to be “an idiot” to vote for him.

But Saturday’s shooting has dramatically changed the political calculations around him. Trump’s former rivals now seem much more eager to wave his populist “America First” banner to the party elite, especially since the isolationist and anti-Ukraine Vance is on the ballot.

After meeting with Trump, former British Prime Minister says candidate will support Ukraine “vigorously”

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Trump on Tuesday, a day after the candidate left the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to thunderous applause.

According to the former leader of the British Conservative Party, whose term as prime minister (2019-2022) overlapped with Trump’s presidency by a year, the Republican leader’s support for Ukraine was “strong and determined”.

“It is great to meet President Trump, who is at his best following the disgraceful assassination attempt on his life,” Johnson wrote on social media on Tuesday. “We discussed Ukraine and I have no doubt that he will be strong and determined to support that country and defend democracy.”

Johnson was known for his warm relationship with President Volodymyr Zelensky and his role in building a coalition of allies to defend Ukraine.

According to Sky News, the meeting with Trump lasted about 30 minutes.

Four days earlier, immediately before the attack in Pennsylvania, Trump had also met with the right-wing populist Hungarian politician Viktor Orban, whose unauthorized “peace missions” as the new EU Council Presidency have drawn the wrath of Brussels.

Orban had earlier completed an unauthorized trip to Moscow, ostensibly to discuss peace proposals with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom Orban has a worryingly close relationship. Trump’s party has, to put it mildly, a very divided agenda on aid to Ukraine, and Trump famously promised he would end the war “within 24 hours.”

“It was an honor to visit President Donald Trump today at Mar-a-Lago. We discussed ways to make peace,” Orban wrote on social media. “The good news of the day: He will solve it!”

On his own social media platform, Truth Social, Trump responded: “Thank you, Viktor. There must be PEACE, and fast. Too many people have died in a war that should never have started!”

Krynky has fallen, but the Russians complete the evacuation of patrol boats from Crimea

Citing Marine Corps sources, Ukrainska Pravda reported on Tuesday that the last troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) had withdrawn from the village of Krynky on the left bank of the Dnipro.

The village was Ukraine’s last stronghold on the east bank of the river in this part of Kherson region and was the result of a courageous crossing of the river into occupied territory in October 2023 and months of resistance during which supply missions were extremely dangerous.

Russian forces have been focusing daily on pushing AFU troops back into the West Bank, and this has been happening slowly over the course of this spring. The withdrawal was almost completed a few weeks ago, Ukrainska Pravda wrote.

Meanwhile, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that fighting continued elsewhere on the east bank of the river on Tuesday, but the think tank could not confirm any progress by either side.

The good news from the south for Ukraine was that the last Russian Black Sea Fleet patrol boat reportedly left occupied Crimea.

Ukrainian Navy spokesman Captain Dmytro Pletenchuk said the patrol boat arrived in Novorossiysk in Krasnodar Krai on Tuesday. Pletenchuk noted that Russian supply ships, which are not intended for combat use, are still stationed in occupied Crimea.