The US–Iran war keeps everyone guessing. American forces made a show of force by blockading the Strait of Hormuz, with combat seemingly on the verge of breaking out — yet Trump suddenly shifted to a softer tone, suggesting both sides could return to the negotiating table within days and that extending the two-week ceasefire wasn't necessary. A deal may be within reach. But given his habit of reversing course, everyone would do well to wait and see before celebrating. While the Iranian situation churns with uncertainty, Ukraine's plight has quietly been forgotten — President Zelensky left to wither alone.
In an interview with German broadcaster ZDF, Zelensky made no effort to hide his distress. Since America launched its campaign against Iran, he said, Washington has completely lost interest in Ukraine. Not only have negotiations ground to a halt, but arms and military equipment deliveries have abruptly stopped — precisely as Russian forces are pressing their offensive hard, leaving Ukraine in a dangerously exposed position.
Iran stole America's attention — and Ukraine paid the price. Talks frozen, arms cut off, Zelensky vents to German TV.
For the first time, Zelensky has come to understand that America, for all its self-image as a superpower, simply cannot stretch across multiple fronts without showing its limits. When the "big boss" proves unreliable, the "junior partner" is left to fend for itself.
Washington's Attention Has Shifted
Zelensky has had his fill of being sidelined, and the bitterness has finally spilled over. He told ZDF that after the Iran war began, America's focus visibly shifted. Special Envoy Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law Kushner — the two men who had been mediating between Washington and Moscow — are now "constantly in talks with Iran," leaving no bandwidth for Ukraine. As a result, peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have been frozen since late February, with no timeline in sight for their resumption.
What makes matters worse is that Trump, already overwhelmed by the Iran campaign, has quietly shelved the Russia-Ukraine file and stopped pressing Putin. Zelensky warned that without pressure, Russia has nothing to fear and will act with impunity. Putin has clearly read the situation. After a 32-hour Orthodox Easter ceasefire, Russian forces resumed their offensive immediately, seizing the opportunity to push for an advantage.
The Air Defence Crisis
The bigger crisis isn't the stalled talks — it's the weapons shortage. Zelensky pointed out that US military aid deliveries have slowed to a crawl, with air defence systems the most acute problem. Supplies of PAC-3 and PAC-2 interceptor missiles have shown serious gaps, and Ukraine could soon be left effectively "undefended," forced to watch helplessly as Russian missiles and drones fly in unchallenged.
Ukraine's air defences are running on empty. Interceptor missiles are critically short, and Russian strikes keep coming.
The reason Washington cannot deliver comes down to the Iran campaign itself. Since the war began, Iran has fired multiple missiles and drones at US military bases in Gulf states and at Israel. American forces have burned through enormous quantities of interceptor missiles countering these attacks, stockpiles are nearly depleted, and replenishment has no quick fix. The only option has been to rob Peter to pay Paul — redirecting air defence equipment destined for other countries to the Middle East, with Ukraine inevitably caught in the fallout.
Watching this crisis unfold, Zelensky is in a panic. Unless a US–Iran ceasefire materialises, there is little hope of American arms deliveries resuming. Ukraine has been forced to rely on itself, rushing to produce its own "FP-5 Flamingo" air defence missiles as a stopgap — though even that amounts to a distant rainstorm that cannot quench today's fire.
Adding insult to injury, Trump — in a bid to boost global oil supply and hold down rising prices — granted a 30-day sanctions waiver on Russia, allowing countries worldwide to purchase Russian oil and natural gas. The result: Russia pocketed an effortless €6 billion, turning the war into a windfall that helps fund its military campaign against Ukraine.
America Stepping Back From Europe
The "big boss" cooling on Zelensky is not entirely a matter of bandwidth. It also reflects a deliberate intent to distance America from Europe and leave the continent to clean up the Ukrainian mess on its own.
A recent development makes this attitude plain. According to Politico, War Secretary Hegseth will skip Wednesday's meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group — a forum that brings together defence ministers from over 50 pro-Ukraine nations — sending Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby in his place. Hegseth's snub signals clearly that the Trump administration no longer treats Ukraine as a priority.
Zelensky's predicament is a tragedy largely of his own making. He placed too much faith in the American "big boss," believing that with Washington firmly in his corner, he could go all-in against Russia. Today, he has finally learned the hard way: this "big boss" cannot manage multiple wars at once. Bogged down in Iran, America has no capacity left to care whether its "junior partner" sinks or swims.
Lai Ting-yiu
What Say You?
** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **
Trump’s recent decisions have been erratic. His speech is incoherent, his rhetoric outrageous, and he has even cast himself as Jesus Christ. These abnormal behaviors have surfaced before, but since he launched war on Iran, they have only intensified.
More and more people across US political circles are questioning whether he is actually deranged, and even his die-hard supporters and former aides say he is “really crazy.” They are not just talking. They are taking action, pushing to invoke the 25th Amendment and calling on Vice President Vance and Cabinet members to remove him.
Support for that idea is rising fast. The odds of success are slim, but the more it is said, the more the public comes to believe he is “unwell,” and that is dragging his approval ratings down further.
The NYT says Trump’s recent erratic, incoherent behavior has politicians across the spectrum openly questioning whether he’s “mentally unstable,” with even former allies calling him “crazy” and urging his removal.
Claims that Trump is “deranged” are nothing new. As far back as 2017, when he first took office, 35 mental health experts published an open letter in a Us newspaper warning that he was “extremely emotionally unstable,” as reflected in his speech and behavior, and said he was “unable to safely perform the duties of president.”
At the time, psychiatrist Allen Francesces, one of the signatories, said: “Mr. Trump causes severe distress rather than experiencing it and has been richly rewarded, rather than punished, for his grandiosity, self-absorption and lack of empathy.” That “diagnosis” still fits Trump today, and the case against him sounds even stronger now.
This controversy has only grown. His recent war on Iran has plunged the world into chaos, and the issue of “mental abnormality” has drawn even greater attention.
The New York Times today published a report headlined “Trump’s Erratic Behavior and Extreme Comments Revive Mental Health Debate”. The article says Democrats are not the only ones raising doubts. Former supporters in the Republican Party, along with his former aides and MAGA (Make America Great Again) die-hards, are also saying “It's insanity” and calling him “a genocidal lunatic”.
Examples of Erratic Conduct
The report points to several recent examples, including Trump’s sudden blast that “A whole civilization will die tonight” in reference to Iran. His decisions, it says, also keep shifting and contradicting themselves. He has also done things no other president has done, publicly attacking Pope Leo XIV by name and calling him “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy.” It shows, the report suggests, a portrait of a hysterical dictator.
On April 13th, Trump posted an AI image casting himself as Jesus Christ, which many saw as yet another sign of “not doing too hot”.
Democrats are, naturally, making the most out of Trump’s erratic words and actions. So far, about 70 members of Congress have pushed to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment, urging Vice President Vance and Cabinet members to remove him on the grounds of “presidential disability.” The odds are close to zero, since Vance remains loyal to him and would never stage a palace coup. Even so, the uproar will almost certainly deepen damage to Trump’s image and make his already weak approval ratings worse.
The New York Times noted that, tellingly, Republican supporters, MAGA supporters and even some of Trump’s former staff are voicing similar doubts.
Former Republican congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who broke with Trump some time ago, told CNN that Trump’s claim he would wipe out Iranian civilization was “Not tough rhetoric, it's insanity.” Far-right influencer Candace Owens, once a loyal Trump backer, also called Trump “a genocidal lunatic”, while Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist and founder of Infowars, said Trump “does babble and sounds like the brain’s not doing too hot.”
White House Allies Speak Out
Trump’s first-term aides, including White House lawyer Ty Cobb, are even blunter. They say he is “a man who is clearly insane,” and that a string of late-night posts on social media “highlights the level of his insanity.”
Trump bristles when these people tell him he is “mentally unwell.” He fires back: “They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too! They’re NUT JOBS, TROUBLEMAKERS, and will say anything necessary for some ‘free’ and cheap publicity.” Of course, a crazy person would never admit to being crazy, just as a drunk refuses to admit he’s drunk.
If Trump were not holding power, whether he is mentally unwell or not would not matter. But the United States is at war now, and chaotic decisions from him would be a serious matter. Former CIA Director John Brennan warns that “this man is clearly mentally unstable,” yet he controls the vast firepower of the nuclear arsenal; if he remains commander-in-chief, the concern is enormous. Brennan therefore also calls for his removal under the 25th Amendment.
War Powers and Public Fear
That said, it is basically impossible to bring Trump down right now. But when so many voices speak in unison and question whether he is “mentally unwell,” the public is likely to feel the same way too, delivering the latest blow to his support. An Ipsos poll last month found that 61 percent thought he was erratic; another YouGov survey found that half of respondents said he was unfit to be president. The numbers may still have further to rise.
As the saying goes, people share the same heart and mind. Putting a supposedly “mentally deranged” person in charge of a country and its armed forces is indeed frightening. But beyond hoping he does not go off the rails, what else can be done?
Lai Ting-yiu
