{"id":3080,"date":"2026-07-10T07:06:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3080"},"modified":"2026-07-10T07:06:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T07:06:49","slug":"trumps-new-nato-claim-exposes-a-surreal-disconnect-with-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3080","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s new NATO claim exposes a surreal disconnect with reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. President Donald Trump lauded the \u201cvery good relationship\u201d he has developed with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at the NATO summit in Turkey on July 8, 2026.<\/p>

Read more Republicans are screaming \u2018fraud\u2019 to cover up their flimsy, slanderous lies<\/a><\/p>

In a meeting of the pair that lacked the acrimony of earlier encounters, Trump added that Ukraine has \u201csuch great people,\u201d too. He has expressed different views privately in the past.<\/p>

But what do everyday Ukrainians think of Trump?<\/p>

For more than a decade, we have organized and conducted public opinion polls in Ukraine. While polling has become more difficult since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in 2022, our surveys have provided a window into Ukrainian public opinion in the territories not occupied by Russia.<\/p>

In our latest survey, we drilled down on how Ukrainians felt toward Trump and his administration\u2019s diplomatic efforts, and toward Americans more generally.<\/p>

Fielded by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, we arranged for a computer-aided telephone survey of 1,801 Ukrainians across government-controlled Ukraine from June 9-26, 2026.<\/p>

Here\u2019s what we learned:<\/p>

Trump is seen as more enemy than friend<\/h2>

Trump has openly expressed his admiration of Russian President Vladimir Putin on many occasions. When he returned to office, Trump initiated a sharp break from the policies of his predecessor Joe Biden. The U.S. now sends less military aid to Ukraine, although U.S.-made arms continue to flow to the country thanks to European funding. A promised US$400 million military aid package has not yet been released.<\/p>

Trump famously chastised Zelenskyy in a 2025 Oval Office meeting and has pressured the Ukrainian president to give up land to satisfy Putin\u2019s territorial desire for all of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. <\/p>

Yet Washington continues to provide Ukraine with intelligence, which is used by Kyiv for targeting its middle- and long-range drone strikes inside Russia. Washington also still enforces significant sanctions against Russia, including Moscow\u2019s oil exports, although it has granted specific waivers of late.<\/p>

To understand what Ukrainians make of all this, we asked them a direct question about Trump: Is he a friend or an enemy of their country, or a bit of both? <\/p>

The results showed that only 17% of Ukrainians surveyed consider Trump a friend. More than double that consider him an enemy of Ukraine. Almost a quarter say he\u2019s a bit of both, with a similar percentage responding \u201cdon\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>