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As I am in Ukraine at the moment, I would just like to correct a few lies from the Zelensky/Trump meeting based on my work here in Ukraine—Trump and Vance you are welcome to come visit although I doubt you have the courage to do so.

1) Zelensky showed up in military fatigues as he has done at every international meeting since day one of the 2022 Russian invasion—the second Russian invasion of Ukraine since 2014—to show his solidarity with the Ukrainian soldiers risking their lives to defend Ukraine, and to emphasize he is the leader of a country at war.

I didn’t see any similar objections to the non-elected immigrant racist white supremacist Elon Musk showing up repeatedly in the White House in a T-shirt and baseball cap which he didn’t even remove—it is a standard sign of respect to leadership to remove your hat—so don’t lecture Zelensky on how to dress.

2) Zelensky is not a dictator and he is not an unpopular leader who is unable to mobilize his people. I have spent many nights and days in the last few weeks with soldiers heading to the frontlines and talking to them, and none of them have tried to refuse to serve and they were heading into the battle with determination and courage—I salute them and respect them deeply.

3) Ukraine and Zelensky doesn’t have to thank the U.S. or Trump—the U.S. and Trump need to thank Ukraine and Zelensky. This is for two reasons.

First of all, Ukraine gave up the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world voluntarily at the end of the USSR under the Budapest accords guaranteed by the U.S., UK, and Russia, giving up several trillion of dollars of nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees for its territorial integrity which Russia has violated and the U.S., UK and EU vowed to protect. If Ukraine had kept its nuclear weapons, it would have been one of the most nuclear armed countries in the world and Russia would have never invaded. We, the West, committed to defend Ukraine in exchange for its denuclearization so there is no need for Ukraine to thank the U.S. for keeping its promises.

Secondly, Ukraine is defending not just its own territorial integrity but the future of Europe. I have been interviewing people from the Russian-occupied territories the last few weeks and they really do live in a Stalinist prison camp that is unbelievably oppressive. This is what Putin wants to bring to much of Europe and we need to stop him in Ukraine to save our own democratic future, at any price (respecting human rights).

In was in Chechnya 25 years ago documenting the same Russian abuses, together at the same hotel with the murdered Anna Polikovskaya, the murdered Natalia Estemirova, and Memorial’s Oleg Orlov who was imprisoned in February 2024 for “discrediting the Russian military” and later released in a prisoner exchange.

The difference in 1999-2000 is that we could operate in Russia, under the watchful eye of the FSB (the current KGB). The FSB were staying at the same hotel as us, the ACCA in Ingushetia, and one night I found a few cigarette butts on the floor of my room just to let me know they were watching us. Buy we could go to Moscow, Human Rights Watch had a staff and office in Moscow, and do our work despite the dangers.

Since the Russian invasion of 2022 (and long before that), that limited space for activism and civil society has closed down in Russia. There are no more independent journalists or human rights groups operating in Russia and the HRW office has long closed down, and Anna and Natalia and Nemtsov and so many others were simply murdered by Putin. Yet this is what Trump embraces instead of the freedom-loving Ukrainian people, and he has refrained of any criticism of the murderous dictator Putin, instead trying to humiliate the freedom-fighting Zelensky. But Zelensky isn’t humiliated, he stands proud and strong because you cannot be humiliated by people you don’t respect.

Shame on you, you twice impeached and felon convicted orange wanna be. You and your republican supplicants do not deserve our respect—I won’t even spell republicans with a capital R because they don’t deserve that honorific. Shame on you betrayers of our American Values.

- Peter Bouckaert, Senior Director at Fortify Rights

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