WASHINGTON — Chaos continued this week as more federal workers received layoff notices, but attention was also focused overseas as President Donald Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting its war with Russia and called President Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator, echoing Moscow’s efforts to discredit the Ukrainian leader.
Tensions between Kyiv and Washington escalated as Trump accused Ukraine of ripping off U.S. government aid to the country and massively inflated the amount of that aid, which has totaled about $119 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine about three years ago.
The Trump administration also broke with a longstanding policy of non-engagement with Russia, meeting in talks with the Kremlin in Saudi Arabia – without Ukraine or the United States’ NATO allies.
That meeting prompted Zelensky to say Trump was “living in a disinformation space” governed by Moscow.
“The Ukraine community is truly baffled by those statements,” said Maria Doan, the advocacy director for the Minneapolis-based Ukrainian American Community Center. “Ukraine was invaded by Russia and (Vladimir) Putin is both the invader and the dictator.”
Doan said Ukraine should be at the negotiating table during any peace talks and that her native country, though not a member of NATO, responded as an ally when the United States sought help in its war with Iraq.
She also said Trump’s Ukraine policy is “damaging to the image of the United States abroad.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 23,000 Ukrainians or people of Ukrainian descent live in Minnesota.
Trump’s depiction of Zelensky as a “dictator” was based on the fact that his current term expired last year. But Zelensky remained in power because Ukraine prohibits elections under martial law.
No matter. Trump adopted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assertion that Zelensky is an imposter who could not sign a peace deal unless presidential elections were held in Ukraine.
Trump also said Zelensky had a 4% approval rating. Zelensky’s approval rating was actually in the high 50s and climbed after Trump’s attacks.
Doan said Minnesota Ukrainians are lobbying Trump administration officials and members of Congress, especially Republicans, to try to influence the president. “But nobody really knows what to do,” she said.
Congressional Republicans, including Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, who strongly supported U.S. funding to Ukraine, were largely silent about Trump’s attacks on Zelensky and the U.S. talks with the Kremlin.
But Democrats decried the sharp shift in U.S. policy.
“We cannot confuse our allies for our adversaries,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., posted on X. “We must be clear-eyed about this. We must stand with the people of Ukraine against the barbarism of Vladimir Putin.”
Figured it was a good t-shirt to wear today #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/r1XvS6UPaq
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) February 16, 2025
Rep. Betty McCollum, D-4th District, posted on X: “Trump is lying. Ukraine did not start this war.”
Senate primary taking shape
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan made it official on Thursday – she’s running for retiring Sen. Tina Smith’s seat.
“I’m running to take Minnesota values to D.C. — but I need your help,” Flanagan said in a Facebook post announcing her decision. A Native American woman has never won a seat in the U.S. Senate before. I believe we can change that.”
Flanagan’s decision is expected to set up a spirited Democratic primary for that seat next year, since Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District, Secretary of State Steve Simon and other notable Democrats are also eying a run. Gov. Tim Walz was also interested but a source said he would not enter the race if Flanagan made an official decision to run.
There could also be a competitive GOP Senate primary, too, with Rep. Pete Stauber, R-8th District, a possible candidate and failed 2024 Senate candidate Royce White and Navy Seal Adam Schwarze expected to run.
Smith mocked Stauber for having ambitions for higher office in a social media feud over the fate of a federal penitentiary in Duluth.
Stauber said on X that a post from Smith saying the Trump administration needed to reconsider the decision to close the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth was a “desperate lie” by the senator because the Biden administration had made the decision to close the facility.
Smith shot back that she had “called this out under Biden … and I’m calling it out again for Trump.”
“It’s called follow up,” Smith posted on X. “How about you put aside the politics, and don’t hesitate to pick up the phone if you have something to say to me. Calling me a liar isn’t very … Senatorial or Gubernatorial.”
Smith also posted receipts – a letter signed by her and Sen. Amy Klobuchar to the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons expressing the senators’ “frustrations and concerns” about the shuttering of the Duluth facility.
ICYMI:
- Race & Health Equity reporter Deanna Pistono took a close look at Department of Health and Human Services chief Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s stance on ultra-processed food.
- We also had a story on the impact of a Department of Education effort to impose funding cuts on schools that fail to abandon what the Trump administration calls DEI initiatives.
- And in Minnesota, state Capitol reporter Peter Callaghan wrote about a sports betting bill that failed on a tie vote in its first Senate committee stop. One reason: lawmakers’ mistrust of Big Tech.
Your questions and comments
A reader wrote about a piece on the U.S. Department of Education’s effort to restrict colleges from considering diversity when they screen applicants.
“We need to apply affirmative action for those who grew up in difficult circumstances, little money and nobody clearing their path,” the reader wrote. “Substitute poverty and deprivation for race and deserving people of all races and backgrounds have more equal opportunity.”
Another reader weighed in on Sen. Tina Smith’s possible future after she retires from the Senate next year.
“She has significant experience in state and local government and would have the best chance of winning (the governor’s office,) the reader said. “It is her ‘dream’ office. She could easily serve two terms.”
The same reader opined on whether Gov. Tim Walz should run for a third term.
“I just don’t think Gov. Walz should risk seeking a third term. However, that is given the political situation TODAY,” the reader said. “By 2026, the revulsion against Trump may create a populist revolution that Gov. Walz is actually the best to lead. The cuts are going to be SO DEVASTATING that this is a real possibility. So we can’t really come to snap decisions NOW about 2026!”
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond.
Ana Radelat is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C. correspondent. You can reach her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @radelat.
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MinnPost is a nonprofit online newspaper in Minneapolis, founded in 2007, with a focus on Minnesota news.
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