Zelensky pitches Ukraine as 'Israel of Europe' to Trump
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- Zelensky landed in Washington on Tuesday pitching Trump on making Ukraine an "Israel-type partner" for the US in Eastern Europe — countering Russia, containing expansionism, and protecting NATO — per George Beebe of the Quincy Institute.
- Ukraine carried out a missile strike against an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea days before Zelensky's arrival, the attack serving as proof-of-concept for his pitch that Kyiv acts when others won't.
- Laura Loomer, a longtime Ukraine critic, reversed course after a visit with Zelensky, telling Ukrainian media she would lobby Trump directly because "Iranians are using Russian weapons to kill American soldiers."
- Trump expressed open skepticism of Zelensky's claim that Russia is supplying Iran with satellite imagery to target US troops, telling reporters "We'll find out if that's true" and saying he would ask Putin about it.
- Beebe dismissed the Ukraine intelligence claims as "simply false," calling them part of a campaign to drag the US "much more directly into Ukraine's conflict with Russia in ways that I don't believe serve America's interests."
- Zelensky is also seeking advanced US missile defense interceptors that are being rapidly expended in the Middle East, and wants Trump to abandon peace talks with Russia and return to a Biden-style policy of fully backing Ukraine.
- Beebe urged Trump to take up Putin's offer to help negotiate an Iran-US peace deal, arguing that resolution there could "build momentum toward a compromised end to the war in Ukraine."
Why it matters: Zelensky is gambling that tying Ukraine's value to Trump's Iran war will unlock advanced missile interceptors the Pentagon is burning through in the Middle East and pull Trump back to maximum support for Kyiv — but the pitch rests on a Russia-Iran intelligence link that Beebe calls "simply false" and that Trump himself has publicly questioned.
