How Donald Trump’s War on Iran Helps Vladimir Putin’s War on Ukraine

This is the New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Welcome to the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnik. Ukraine has been fighting off the Russian army and the brutal calculations of Vladimir Putin for more than four years now. Longer than the United States fought.

in the Second World War. Donald Trump has been reluctant at best about defending Ukraine since the start, and he said that he'll withdraw American support unless Ukraine makes enormous concessions of territory. And over the last month, America's war in Iran has only strengthened Putin's hand. The oil crisis in the Middle East has raised the value of Russian oil exports.

Again and again Donald Trump threatens to pull the United States out of NATO, which also must really please Vladimir Putin, even if Trump can't actually do it on his own. Russia is now sending drones to Iran and has provided intelligence to be used against American forces. All of this was reported recently in the Kiev Independent, an English language news site. The editor is Olga Rudenka, who founded the Independent with fellow journalists in Ukraine. I met Rudenka with some of her colleagues in New York late last year, and we spoke again recently.

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