Zelensky ‘losing his lustre' as EU withholds aid to Ukraine
The European Union said on Friday that it would withhold €1.5 billion (about $2.7 billion) from an overall fund of €4.5 billion whose disbursement is dependent on achieving good governance standards and that can't be used for military purchases. The decision is not final, however, and the funding can be restored if Ukraine meets certain benchmarks.
Zelensky had no public comment on the aid cut, which nevertheless was a setback for Ukraine's leader, who is depending on European financial support to fill gaps left by the Trump administration's refusal to underwrite Ukraine's war effort.
While holding back Western aid to spur reform was common before Russia's invasion, Friday's decision seemed to signal a new willingness by the bloc to admonish Zelensky's government on domestic policy during the war. It also raised questions about whether the glow around Zelensky might be beginning to dim among Ukraine's Western allies.
James Wasserstrom, an American anti-corruption expert, said that 'the lustre is definitely coming off' Zelensky's wartime leadership among governments providing financial assistance. He added, 'There is exasperation at Zelensky in the donor community.'
The EU's decision capped a tumultuous week for Zelensky, who first pushed a measure through parliament that stripped the independence of two anti-corruption agencies, raising protests from foreign leaders as well as the Ukrainian people.
He then reversed course, submitting a new bill to parliament to restore the agencies' independence. That calmed the street protests, but could not head off the EU's aid cut, which had been decided on the basis of long-standing guidelines.
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In Trump's first term in office from 2017 to 2021, he became the first president to be impeached twice - the first time over a request that Ukraine investigate former President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and the second over the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. The three presidents impeached - or charged with misconduct - by the House of Representatives were acquitted by the Senate. The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History has removed explicit reference to US President Donald Trump from an exhibit about impeachment. The museum in Washington DC made the change as part of a review that it agreed to undertake following White House pressure to remove an art museum director, the Washington Post, which first reported the removal on Thursday, cited a source as saying. A spokesperson in a statement said "a future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments". Trump signed an executive order in March calling for "improper, divisive or anti-American ideology" to be removed from the Smithsonian - the vast museum and research institution that is a premier exhibition space for US history and culture. The order raised concern of political interference at the institution as well as fear that his administration is undoing decades of social progress and undermining the acknowledgment of critical phases of American history. "In September 2021, the museum installed a temporary label on content concerning the impeachments of Donald J. Trump. It was intended to be a short-term measure to address current events at the time, however, the label remained in place until July 2025," the spokesperson said in an email. The Washington Post reported the exhibit now notes that "only three presidents have seriously faced removal." The temporary label - which read "Case under redesign (history happens)" - also offered information about the impeachments of former presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, as well as Richard Nixon, who would have faced impeachment had he not resigned in 1974, the newspaper reported, citing a photograph of the label. The spokesperson said that after a content review, the Smithsonian decided to restore the exhibit to how it looked in 2008. The Smithsonian receives most of its budget from the US Congress but is independent of the government in decision-making. In June, Kim Sajet stepped down as director of the National Portrait Gallery, which is part of the Smithsonian, after criticism from Trump. In Trump's first term in office from 2017 to 2021, he became the first president to be impeached twice - the first time over a request that Ukraine investigate former President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and the second over the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. The three presidents impeached - or charged with misconduct - by the House of Representatives were acquitted by the Senate. The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History has removed explicit reference to US President Donald Trump from an exhibit about impeachment. The museum in Washington DC made the change as part of a review that it agreed to undertake following White House pressure to remove an art museum director, the Washington Post, which first reported the removal on Thursday, cited a source as saying. A spokesperson in a statement said "a future and updated exhibit will include all impeachments". Trump signed an executive order in March calling for "improper, divisive or anti-American ideology" to be removed from the Smithsonian - the vast museum and research institution that is a premier exhibition space for US history and culture. The order raised concern of political interference at the institution as well as fear that his administration is undoing decades of social progress and undermining the acknowledgment of critical phases of American history. "In September 2021, the museum installed a temporary label on content concerning the impeachments of Donald J. Trump. It was intended to be a short-term measure to address current events at the time, however, the label remained in place until July 2025," the spokesperson said in an email. The Washington Post reported the exhibit now notes that "only three presidents have seriously faced removal." The temporary label - which read "Case under redesign (history happens)" - also offered information about the impeachments of former presidents Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998, as well as Richard Nixon, who would have faced impeachment had he not resigned in 1974, the newspaper reported, citing a photograph of the label. The spokesperson said that after a content review, the Smithsonian decided to restore the exhibit to how it looked in 2008. The Smithsonian receives most of its budget from the US Congress but is independent of the government in decision-making. In June, Kim Sajet stepped down as director of the National Portrait Gallery, which is part of the Smithsonian, after criticism from Trump. In Trump's first term in office from 2017 to 2021, he became the first president to be impeached twice - the first time over a request that Ukraine investigate former President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and the second over the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters. The three presidents impeached - or charged with misconduct - by the House of Representatives were acquitted by the Senate.
