Trump Shields Putin: U.S. Withdraws From Ukraine War Crimes Investigation, Abandoning Justice for Russian Atrocities

U.S. Pulls Out of Effort to Hold Putin Accountable

Reporting from The New York Times, journalist Glenn Thrush revealed on March 17, 2025, that the Trump administration is withdrawing the United States from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA)—a multinational effort to investigate and prosecute Vladimir Putin and his allies for their illegal invasion of Ukraine. The withdrawal, confirmed in an internal letter obtained by The Times, signals a dramatic shift away from U.S. support for Ukraine and toward shielding Russian leadership from accountability.

Dismantling War Crimes Investigations

The ICPA, operating under the European Union’s Eurojust agency, was established to investigate crimes of aggression—one of the gravest violations of international law. Under the Biden administration, the U.S. was the only non-European country to contribute a senior prosecutor to the effort, working alongside Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic states, and the International Criminal Court. Trump’s withdrawal eliminates that crucial legal support.

But it doesn’t stop there. Trump is also gutting the Justice Department’s War Crimes Accountability Team (WarCAT), an initiative launched in 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland. WarCAT played a pivotal role in helping Ukraine prosecute Russian war criminals, providing legal expertise, training, and logistical support. It even secured the first-ever U.S. war crimes indictment under a decades-old statute, charging four Russian soldiers in absentia for torturing an American in Ukraine. Now, that team is being dismantled with no clear justification beyond the vague claim of “redeploying resources.”

Trump Echoes Kremlin Propaganda

This decision follows Trump’s increasingly pro-Putin rhetoric. Just last month, he falsely suggested that Ukraine was responsible for the war, declaring, “You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.” This statement directly echoes Kremlin talking points, shifting blame from Russia—the aggressor—to Ukraine, the victim.

Adding insult to injury, Trump publicly attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling him a “Dictator without Elections”—an accusation that is both misleading and deeply ironic given Trump’s own authoritarian ambitions. These statements, combined with the withdrawal from war crimes investigations, send a chilling signal to Russia and the world: the U.S. will no longer stand in the way of Putin’s crimes.

The Global Consequences: A Green Light for Authoritarians

The implications of this move extend far beyond Ukraine. By dismantling war crimes accountability, Trump is sending a clear message to dictators worldwide: aggression will go unpunished.

• Xi Jinping may see this as an invitation to invade Taiwan, knowing Trump won’t enforce international norms.
• Iran and North Korea may escalate military aggression, seeing no fear of U.S. legal retaliation.
• Other autocratic regimes are watching, learning that under Trump, the U.S. will no longer act as a check on global war crimes.

This is how democracies die—not in one dramatic moment, but through systematic betrayals of justice and accountability. The post-WWII international order, designed to prevent wars of aggression, is collapsing under Trump’s leadership.

History’s Warning: Where This Leads

This is not the first time a leader has abandoned justice to appease a dictator. In the 1930s, Western democracies failed to hold Hitler accountable for his violations of international law, emboldening him to invade Poland and plunge the world into war. Similarly, Putin has tested global resolve repeatedly, from Crimea to Syria, always calculating how far he can push without consequences. Trump just gave him the answer: as far as he wants.

A Turning Point for American Democracy

Trump’s withdrawal from the ICPA is more than an abandonment of Ukraine—it is a deliberate weakening of global democracy and a gift to authoritarianism. The world is at a crossroads, and history has made it clear: when war crimes go unpunished, more war follows.