Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley admonished her 2024 election rival, President Donald Trump, over his stance on Ukraine and recent comments directed at the country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.

While the sudden change in US foreign policy is dramatic, the president has been charting this course for years.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, then-U.S. President Joe Biden took a firm stand in solidarity with Kyiv, forged a bulwark of European allies and set veteran advisers to the task of isolating Moscow economically and diplomatically.

At the end of the first month of his second presidency, Donald Trump moved toward a warm new relationship with Russia, a 180-degree pivot that created a horrifying situation for Ukraine and may undo all of the United States’ long-standing security alliances.

Donald Trump blamed Ukraine for the war with Russia, which was met with harsh criticism from the German press. Commentators accuse him of becoming a spokesman for the Kremlin, undermining the post-war global order and the transatlantic alliance.