Donald Trump’s administration helped Ukrainians defend themselves - Yorkshire Post Letters

Yet again one of your columnists writes an article that is highly misleading about Donald Trump. Paul Andrews (TYP, April 23) accuses Trump of "abandoning Ukraine to Russian aggression."

Unfortunately the facts don't support Mr Andrews' argument. Before the Russians' 2022 invasion, Ukraine had been fighting Russian-armed and led separatists in its eastern provinces since 2014, shortly after Russia had occupied and annexed Crimea.

The Ukrainians had appealed to President Barack Obama for military aid but had been turned down.

The Trump administration, however, first approved the sale of its Javelin anti-tank missile system to Ukraine in December 2017.

The first sale, which was completed in March 2018, included 210 Javelin missiles and 37 launch units and was intended to "help Ukraine build its long-term defence capacity to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity in order to meet its national defence requirements," according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, an agency within the United States Department of Defense.

Under Trump the United States also gave Ukraine nearly $400m of military assistance for maritime security, special operations units, secure communications and light weapons like sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

Given all that, it's hardly surprising that the Russians waited until Trump was out of office before undertaking their invasion.

Mr Andrews should perhaps take note.