How Donald Trump’s War on Iran Helps Vladimir Putin’s War on Ukraine
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
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Summary
In 2021, when Olga Rudenko and other journalists launched the English-language news outlet the Kyiv Independent, they were committed to making a publication that wouldn’t face political pressure from an owner. A few months later, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the Independent began reporting breaking news from the front lines, and conducting investigations of the Ukrainian government. David Remnick talks with Rudenko, the Independent’s editor-in-chief, about the challenges of reporting in wartime; President Volodymyr Zelensky’s pushback on independent journalism; how Iran and Russia have been providing military aid to one another; and why Ukraine cannot accept the peace deal with Russia that Donald Trump is insisting that it take.
Further reading:
- “The Assault on Ukraine’s Power Grid,” by Michael Holtz
- “What Are Putin’s Ultimate Demands for Peace in Ukraine?,” by Joshua Yaffa
- “Ukraine Has ‘Irrefutable Evidence’ of Russia Providing Intelligence to Iran, Zelensky Says,” by Asami Terajima, of the Kyiv Independent
- “China, Iran Help Russia Prop Up Economy in Occupied Ukrainian Territories, Report Says,” by Yuliia Taradiuk, of the Kyiv Independent
- “Ukraine Heads to US with Drone Proposal Trump Dismissed Before War with Iran,” by Tim Zadorozhnyy, of the Kyiv Independent
- “We Interviewed Iran’s Envoy to Ukraine and It Was Absolutely Wild,” by Polina Moroziuk, of the Kyiv Independent
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the political scene. |
| 0:07.5 | I'm David Remnick. |
| 0:08.8 | Early each week, we bring you a conversation from our episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour. |
| 0:16.2 | This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. |
| 0:23.8 | Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. |
| 0:28.4 | Ukraine has been fighting off the Russian army and the brutal calculations of Vladimir Putin for more than four years now, longer than the United States fought in the Second World War. |
| 0:39.9 | Donald Trump has been reluctant at best about defending Ukraine since the start, and he said that |
| 0:45.6 | he'll withdraw American support unless Ukraine makes enormous concessions of territory. And over the last |
| 0:52.3 | month, America's war in Iran has only strengthened Putin's |
| 0:57.0 | hand. The oil crisis in the Middle East has raised the value of Russian oil exports. Again and again, |
| 1:04.3 | Donald Trump threatens to pull the United States out of NATO, which also must really please Vladimir |
| 1:10.4 | Putin, even if Trump can't actually do it on his own. |
| 1:14.6 | Russia is now sending drones to Iran and has provided intelligence to be used against American forces. |
| 1:21.7 | All of this was reported recently in the Kiev Independent, an English-language news site. |
| 1:28.2 | The editor is Olga Rudenko, who founded the Independent with fellow journalists in Ukraine. |
| 1:34.2 | I met Rudenko with some of her colleagues in New York late last year, and we spoke again |
| 1:38.5 | recently. |
| 1:39.5 | She was in her office in Kiev. |
| 1:43.8 | Olga, it's very good to see you. |
| 1:45.7 | How has life been for you? |
| 1:48.1 | Well, it's, you know, it's gotten pretty tough in January. |
| 1:52.7 | So we, January and February were the toughest winter that we've had ever. |
... |
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