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Loomer urges Patriot
MAGA influencer Laura Loomer urged the United States to provide Ukraine with Patriot air defense missiles after a trip to Kyiv, writing on X on July 27 that she had to take shelter in bomb shelters multiple times due to Russian ballistic missile launches and woke up every night to air raid sirens.
“Laura Loomer urges U.S. to provide Patriot missiles after Kyiv trip”
Loomer said she believed the United States should provide Ukraine with more Patriot missiles, calling them a "low-risk lever of influence" that protects Ukrainian civilians, raises the cost of Russian aggression, and weakens the "axis of evil" that is already taking American lives.
In the same post, Loomer acknowledged that a Ukrainian defeat would cause Russian aggression to spread to other parts of Europe and eventually to the United States, and she added, "Patriot missiles in Ukraine will slow the spread of multipolarity."
She also called on Donald Trump and the U.S. Department of War to prevent the expansion of Russian aggression, including through propaganda that "destabilizes cohesion in America".
The New Voice of Ukraine said Loomer arrived in Kyiv on July 20 and later stated she interviewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on July 23 and publicly apologized to Ukrainians on July 24.
Meeting Zelenskyy, Azman
Le Monde.fr described Loomer's shift as a "spectacular conversion" after a trip to Kyiv and a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky that changed her mind, with Loomer writing that she was "floored with how many Russian lies I fell for".
Le Monde.fr said Loomer published an interview with Zelensky on Friday recorded in the garden of the Mariinsky Palace, and it said her meeting with Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman appeared to have played a key role in her pro-Ukraine shift.
Loomer told Le Monde.fr that before coming to Ukraine she believed the Ukrainian army was full of Nazis in the Azov Battalion, and she apologized for calling Zelensky a "self-hating Nazi Jew."
All Israel News reported that Loomer interviewed Zelensky this week and met Rabbi Moshe Azman in Ukraine, and it quoted her as writing, "I admit it, I fell into the trap of Russian propaganda."
All Israel News also reported that Loomer asked Zelensky during the interview how continued U.S. support for Ukraine is compatible with the "America First" program, and it quoted Zelensky saying, "It’s illegal: antisemitism. We did it under my presidency,".
Right splits, Kremlin reacts
El Mundo said the death of Lindsey Graham in Kyiv caused shock and that Graham had been a firm defender of Ukraine within the Republican Party, while it described a later "unexpected phenomenon" in which influential voices in the MAGA universe changed their tone toward Ukraine.
“"Ukraine has been fighting for its own existence against a wicked dictator"”
El Mundo said Loomer has become a defender and lobbyist of the Ukrainian cause, and it stated that her conversion is complete "to the point that she has just visited Ukraine and met with the country's political leaders, including an interview recorded with Zelenski."
El Mundo also reported that MAGA podcaster and activist Tim Pool wrote on Friday on X, "Ukraine has been fighting for its own existence against a wicked dictator," and that he added, "I hope that Trump and the American people will support it."
In the same El Mundo account, it said the Kremlin was distressed by Loomer's shift and described the Department of Justice dismantling a Kremlin-run bot farm before the 2024 U.S. presidential elections, charging two employees of Russian RT television with directing nearly 10 million dollars to covertly fund and run an online content creation company based in Tennessee.
El Mundo named Tenet Media and said it gave voice to influencers and propagandists with millions of followers, including Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin, or Lauren Southern, and it said the Kremlin infiltrates the U.S. as part of its framing.
