What do Trump’s comments mean for Utah’s unique support for Ukraine?

On July 12, 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took the stage at the National Governor’s Association conference in Salt Lake City to thank the Beehive State for helping his home on the opposite side of the globe.

“So many people and countries have united to help us save our freedom, and thus the common human understanding that evil must always, always lose,” he said, in gratitude to those who had given food, shelter, money and other resources in the face of war in Ukraine.

While clocking in at only 10 minutes, Zelenskyy’s speech elicited multiple standing ovations from a dozen U.S. governors and a crowded ballroom of hundreds of Utah legislators, state business executives and policymakers.

The visit, made possible by an invitation from Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, was Zelenskyy’s first to the U.S. outside of Washington, D.C., New York or California. A year earlier, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams led the first state trade and humanitarian delegation to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv since Russia’s invasion in 2022.

The culmination of the weeklong trip included an 80-minute discussion with Zelenskyy and members of his leadership team. The meeting focused on how to encourage support for Ukraine during the war and to provide opportunity for both Ukrainians and Utahns following the war to build a prosperous future.

On Wednesday, those same Utah leaders found themselves struggling to communicate their views on Ukraine while avoiding criticism of their party’s standard bearer who alleged on social media that Zelenskyy was a “dictator” who had swindled American aid and prolonged Ukraine’s war with Russia.

Cox, Adams call for peace in Ukraine

In their careful responses, Cox, Adams and other Utah leaders reaffirmed Utah’s support for Ukraine as well as their desire for Trump to help the conflict come to an end.

“We are grateful for the overwhelming support Utahns have shown for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression and pray for the President’s efforts to negotiate a lasting peace,” Cox told the Deseret News in a statement Wednesday.

During Zelenskyy’s visit to Salt Lake City last year, Cox praised the leader and his wife, Olena Zelenska, both of whom he said he spent time with during their stay in the state. Cox said they are good people thrown into an impossible task and noted that lesser people would have fled Ukraine in the face of such conflict.

“This man and this woman did not do that,” Cox said. “They stood up to evil and their country rallied around them.”

Immediately following Zelenskyy’s speech, Cox signed a sister-state agreement between Utah and Kyiv Oblast with the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova. The eight-page memorandum of understanding recognized the economic relationship between the Kyiv area and Utah, building on connections made during Adam’s trip to Ukraine, accompanied and organized by World Trade Center Utah officials in 2023.

Joined by state Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, Utah Department of Agriculture and Food Commissioner Craig Buttars and two dozen business leaders, Adams met with 10 Ukrainian ministers or their deputies during his visit to promote Utah’s unique ability to build businesses, provide humanitarian aid and help Ukraine win the war.

“I hope the war ends,” Adams said Wednesday, when asked about Trump’s comments from earlier that day. “So I’m very glad that somebody is willing to engage and try to bring an end to the war. I believe President Zelenskyy has been a great leader for Ukraine. He’s led his country through a very difficult period of time.”

Adams said the people of Ukraine have “amazed” the world with the defense of their country against Putin. Teuscher, whose wife is Ukrainian, told the Deseret News a peace deal should ensure the continued existence of Ukraine.

“I hope that cooler heads prevail and that we can find a scenario where the war ends but Ukraine is able to maintain its sovereignty,” Teuscher said Wednesday in a statement.

What have Utahns done to support Ukraine?

Since Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, residents of few states have done as much as Utahns to support the eastern European country economically, according to Jonathan Freedman, the honorary consul of Ukraine in Utah.

In addition to joining the state-led delegation in 2023, Utah business leaders over the past few years have hosted former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, supported humanitarian efforts from groups like To Ukraine With Love and August Mission, and welcomed 18 Ukrainian tech companies to the Silicon Slopes Summit.

The state’s business community also saw the tremendous contribution from Dell Loy Hansen, philanthropist and founder of the Wasatch Group, in the construction of whole communities to support Ukrainians who lost their homes.

Freedman, who since the 2023 trade mission has taken over as CEO of World Trade Center Utah, said that Ambassador Markarova regularly tells representatives from other states that Utah is “leading the way in engagement with Ukraine.”

“I think that Utah Business Engagement with Ukraine will continue, regardless of what is being heard out of Washington,” Freedman told the Deseret News on Wednesday. “When the world flees a problem area, Utah, historically, has demonstrated that we will show up and engage.”

While private sector support remains strong, according to Freedman, recent turns in the political environment have put public aid in question.

How much has the U.S. spent on Ukraine?

Since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the United States has allocated roughly $183 billion to support Ukraine, the Special Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve found.

Of this total, around $70 billion has gone toward military aid, $33 billion has been used to prop up the country’s government budget and $3 billion has been used for humanitarian purposes, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

On Wednesday, Trump put these figures much higher, totaling $350 billion, and said that Zelenskyy had “talked the United States of America into” funding a war “that couldn’t be won.”

Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who has previously spoken out against wasteful funding toward Ukraine, did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the Deseret News regarding Trump’s comments. However, the Utah senator posted on X hours after the statement to say: “Not another dime for Ukraine.”

In a statement released Wednesday, Utah Sen. John Curtis did not question Trump’s “negotiating tactics” but expressed concern about a potential deal that would encourage Russia to stir additional chaos.

“President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people have stood admirably against an unprovoked invasion. I want an end to this war just as much as President Trump does, but it must end on terms that bring lasting stability and peace,” Curtis said. “That means ensuring Vladimir Putin does not walk away with a victory.”

A Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll in 2023 found that Utahns’ interest in the Russia-Ukraine war had already begun to wane compared to the year before.

The survey found 61% of respondents are very closely or somewhat closely following the war, down considerably from the 85% a month after Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine in February 2022.

At the onset of the war, an estimated 2,000 people gathered on the south steps of the state capitol building in solidarity with Ukraine. They were accompanied by state leaders including Cox, Adams, former House Speaker Brad Wilson and Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.

State officials bathed the capitol building in blue and yellow light and raised the Ukrainian flag, the first time a foreign flag was over the statehouse. Russia’s invasion also rekindled the relationship of Salt Lake City with its longtime sister city of Chernivtsi, resulting in video updates from the city mayor.