(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy swooped in to help fight California’s raging fires following pressure from Donald Trump Jr., the U.S. president-elect’s son.
On Wednesday, the incoming first son highlighted headlines that the Los Angeles County fire department donated its “extra” fire equipment to Ukraine, a country the U.S. has funneled hundreds of billions of dollars into since its war with Russia started in February 2022.
“Oh look of course The LA fire department donated a bunch of their supplies to Ukraine,” Trump Jr. wrote on social media of the city’s disastrous response to the California blaze, which raged on for days due to the state’s leftist environmental policies leaving fire hydrants without water and DEI incompetence in emergency services.
Oh look of course The LA fire department donated a bunch of their supplies to Ukraine https://t.co/1XVA15f6oI
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 8, 2025
Zelenskyy offered to send 150 Ukrainian firefighters to California on Sunday after Trump’s son generated buzz online.
The Ukrainian president wrote, “Today, I instructed Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs and our diplomats to prepare for the possible participation of our rescuers in combating the wildfires in California.”
Today, I instructed Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs and our diplomats to prepare for the possible participation of our rescuers in combating the wildfires in California.
The situation there is extremely difficult, and Ukrainians can help Americans save lives.
This is… pic.twitter.com/1yiIiOz8bi
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) January 12, 2025
“The situation there is extremely difficult, and Ukrainians can help Americans save live,” he added in his X post, which included a video of himself speaking. “This is currently being coordinated, and we have offered our assistance to the American side through the relevant channels. 150 of our firefighters are already prepared.”
In his video, Zelenskyy called the California fires “challenging” and commended the “warriors” working hard to extinguish them.
Social media users did not react well to Zelenskyy’s offer, especially after the U.S. spent more than two years forking over taxpayer dollars to fund the country’s foreign war.
How about you just send back the support you have been given? All of it. Then we can fix things faster!
— Silver Gypsy (@SilverGypsySprk) January 13, 2025
Worry about your own country. We got this. A real boss will be in office in 8 days. The fires will magically stop.
— MaximilianTheGreat (@FakeNewsUTrust) January 12, 2025
If Ukraine is in the middle of a horrific war for which they need hundreds of billions of dollars in aid and munitions, how is Zelenskyy going to provide fire assistance to California? The mere fact that he’s posting this on social media should tell you all you need to know about… https://t.co/J9vd3F0NkY
— cudchewerchad (@cudchewerchad) January 13, 2025
Some asked for Ukraine to send back the U.S. support it had received. Others told Zelenskyy, “Worry about your own country.”
“If Ukraine is in the middle of a horrific war for which they need hundreds of billions of dollars in aid and munitions, how is Zelenskyy going to provide fire assistance to California? The mere fact that he’s posting this on social media should tell you all you need to know about everything we’re sending to Ukraine,” X user @cudchewerchad observed.
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and the American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
