Donald Trump has finally stopped pretending. After months, if not years, of flirtation with Vladimir Putin, the US president is siding with Russia in its war against Ukraine.

At a time when Ukraine is fighting for survival, the US joined Russia, North Korea, Belarus and Israel to vote against a UN resolution to condemn the bloodshed in a double blow to both Europe and Ukraine.

The largely symbolic vote – held on the third anniversary of the invasion – reflects the growing schism between Europe and the US, and the American ‘rehabilitation’ of Russia.

Keir Giles, Russian military expert, told Metro that the resolution is another indication of the way in which Russia has ‘successfully flipped’ the White House, branding it a ‘Trumputin Pact’.

Inside the ‘Trumputin Pact’

He said: ‘The US is determined in every possible forum to pursue Russia’s policy aims.

‘It is not just the “Trumputin Pact” that is rehabilitating Russia, it is not just forcing through Russia’s objectives and the surrender of Ukraine … it is the UN resolution as well.

‘[The US] is pursuing the long-standing Russian policy objectives of being forgiven for aggression, atrocities, and war crimes.’

Political activist Sir Bill Browder also stressed to Metro that the US aligning with countries like North Korea and Russia and others is ‘no good news’ for the future of Ukraine.

What has shocked experts is the speed with which the ‘Trump-Musk junta’ has moved to demolish not only the US government at home, but also the US alliances and levers of power abroad.

Since Trump’s January 20 inauguration, Washington’s approach to Russia has changed dramatically.

First, spearheading with ceasefire negotiations in Saudi Arabia – excluding Ukraine and European leaders – and then the potential reset of diplomatic relations between the two superpowers.

Putin now ‘entirely satisfied’ with Trump

Giles warned there is no indication yet of slackening in the White House’s determination to enforce what Russia wants.

Putin is now ‘entirely satisfied’ with the immediate results of the new force in the White House as it ‘eliminates’ the US as an obstacle to his quest for power in Europe, he added.

‘Eventually, the US will be faced with a hostile Russia directly challenging its own interests at home,’ the expert admitted.

‘Those who seek to please Putin by doing everything he wants sometimes live to tell the tale, but that does not remove the underlying fact that Russia sees the US as an adversary.’

Looking at Trump’s crumbling relationship with Europe, Sir Bill said that the ‘worst-case’ scenario is that the US would become ‘isolationist’ and back away from supporting Ukraine.

‘I could have never imagined America would side with Putin.’ he added just hours after the vote.

Trump’s next steps on Russian integration

There are now fears Trump will go ahead with dropping the sweeping sanctions against the Kremlin introduced by the US government before he entered office.

Sir Bill has spent 15 years working to sanction individuals associated with Russia, and said the recent suggestion to lift them ‘unilaterally’ when the country is still a ‘malignant’ foreign power would destroy his life’s work.

He added: ‘If Trump is doing this, I think we can pretty safely assume he is going to do a lot of the other things that he threatened to do: taking over Greenland, the Panama Canal, etc.

‘If he is unrestrained when it comes to someone like Putin, why would he restrain himself on other areas of foreign policy which everybody had sort of laughed off as being outrageous? They may now very well be true.’

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