Campaigning in Pennsylvania last September, JD Vance seemed to strike at an unlikely political foe: the besieged president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, who’d spent most of the previous two years being hailed by Western leaders as a hero.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to Washington optimistic that signing President Donald Trump’s desired minerals deal would stabilize their relationship and keep the U.S. on his side. Turns out he was walking into an ambush.