2026-07-25T11:00:25.561Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/25/politics/laura-loomer-ukraine-zelensky-trump
多年来，劳拉·卢默对唐纳德·特朗普总统的坚定支持，与她强烈反对美国援助乌克兰对抗俄罗斯的立场同样鲜明。
这位极右翼人士曾指责乌克兰士兵犯下战争罪，还称弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基总统伪造自己的犹太信仰。她曾鼓动俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京吞并整个乌克兰。
然而在周五，卢默发布了一段在基辅录制的、时长45分钟的友好访谈，她在访谈中赞扬了乌克兰的无人机战术，承认自己曾散布关于这场战争的虚假信息，并为传播有利于俄罗斯的叙事表示后悔。
“我被俄罗斯的宣传骗了，”她对泽连斯基说，“而且我曾相信了很多关于乌克兰的不实言论。”
这番表态标志着特朗普最忠诚的盟友之一发生了惊人的立场转变——这位总统似乎立刻表示了认可。周四，特朗普在Truth Social上分享了这段访谈的宣传片段，并写道：“非常好！！！”
两名资深政府官员告诉CNN，白宫事先并不知情卢默前往战火纷飞的乌克兰——她表示这段旅程耗时30小时，由于空域限制，她从波兰搭乘长途火车抵达基辅。白宫和国务院均未回应CNN就她此行提出的置评请求。
尽管如此，她的访问仍令人鲜明地意识到，有时会有非常规的舆论潮流影响特朗普的外交政策圈子。她与泽连斯基同框的画面曝光当天，美国国务卿马可·卢比奥正在菲律宾与俄罗斯外长谢尔盖·拉夫罗夫会晤。卢默从泽连斯基那里得到承诺，将在白宫或特朗普的棕榈滩庄园与俄罗斯签署和平协议；而卢比奥则承认，目前几乎没有达成协议的进展。
一名白宫官员告诉CNN，泽连斯基将于周二在白宫会见特朗普。泽连斯基本周早些时候表示，他已与特朗普的特使史蒂夫·威科夫和贾里德·库什纳进行了交谈。“这是一场良好且重要的对话，探讨如何重振外交，让和平更近一步，”他在X平台上写道。
直到不久前，卢默——她大部分时间都在找出并批评特朗普政府内部所谓的“不忠诚”雇员——似乎永远都不会表达对乌克兰人民的同情。除了利用自己庞大的数字平台召集“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）阵营反对乌克兰参战，她还曾为克里姆林宫资助的国际电视台RT撰写了一系列专栏文章。
一位了解泽连斯基访谈安排内情的基辅人士告诉CNN，最近几周有人“付出了相当大的努力”来改变卢默的世界观。
卢默当时正在参观俄罗斯空袭后的废墟，她在短暂的电话采访中表示，与泽连斯基的交谈让她收获颇丰。在随后发给CNN的消息中，她没有详细说明这次行程是如何安排的。
在与泽连斯基的对话中，卢默与过去指责泽连斯基支持新纳粹民兵的言论划清了界限，并赞扬了乌克兰将反犹太主义定为犯罪的新法律。访问期间，她还会见了乌克兰著名拉比摩西·鲁文·阿兹曼。
卢默的立场转变引发了各种反应，包括X平台上自由派和反特朗普共和党人的强烈质疑，其中一些人质疑她的态度转变是否真诚，或是为了经济利益。卢默告诉新闻网站Puck，她自己支付了机票费用，但拒绝透露其他费用——如安保和火车票——是由谁承担的。
“乌克兰政府没有付钱让我去，如果你是这个意思的话，”她对Puck说。
另一位极右翼评论员、直言不讳的乌克兰批评者蒂姆·普尔似乎在X平台上嘲讽卢默，他发布了自己对这场战争的“态度转变”，后来又似乎透露这是不真诚的。
不过，这位基辅消息人士称，泽连斯基的核心圈子对卢默此行引发的初步反应感到满意，他们乐观地认为，鉴于卢默在总统及其众多支持者中的公信力，她现在可以成为支持乌克兰的有影响力的声音。在访谈中，泽连斯基赞扬了特朗普，并对卢默提出的如何争取MAGA阵营支持的提议表示接受，但他拒绝评价乔·拜登总统和现任总统（特朗普）谁更优秀。
“历史会给出答案，”他说，随后将亚伯拉罕·林肯称为美国最优秀的领导人。
卢默重新审视自己长期以来对乌克兰的反对立场，正值她与塔克·卡尔森就后者反对特朗普对伊朗开战的争执升级之际。和卢默一样，卡尔森也经常散布俄罗斯的叙事，反对美国援助乌克兰自卫。
但卢默对卡尔森的动机越来越怀疑，这暴露了MAGA阵营内部在外交政策上的深刻意识形态分歧。在乌克兰之行期间，卢默将矛头指向了卡尔森。有一次，她在一家仍在空袭废墟中营业的麦当劳用餐，这一姿态意在呼应卡尔森两年前颇具争议的莫斯科之行——当时他采访了普京，称赞莫斯科“比任何美国城市都好”，并吃了俄罗斯版的麦当劳金拱门套餐。麦当劳在2022年俄罗斯全面入侵乌克兰后不久就撤出了该国。
特朗普阵营内部对这场战争的分歧日益加剧之际，乌克兰与俄罗斯之间的空袭行动也在升级。联合国近期报告称，6月是乌克兰平民四年多来死亡人数最多的一个月，而针对俄罗斯基础设施和军舰的无人机袭击造成了越来越多的人员伤亡，也给普京带来了新的挑战。
国会正在审议一项旨在进一步惩罚莫斯科的制裁法案，该法案旨在纪念长期支持乌克兰抗俄战争的已故参议员林赛·格雷厄姆。特朗普表示，如果法案同时包含对伊朗的制裁，他愿意签署。
当被问及这项制裁法案时，泽连斯基对卢默说，特朗普“确切地知道谁真的不想停止战争”。
“他明白我们真的想要和平，”泽连斯基说。
CNN的克里斯汀·霍姆斯为本报道贡献了内容。
After being ‘bamboozled by Russian propaganda,’ Laura Loomer says she’s all in for Ukraine
2026-07-25T11:00:25.561Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/25/politics/laura-loomer-ukraine-zelensky-trump
For years, Laura Loomer’s unflinching support for President Donald Trump was matched only by her fervent opposition to the US assisting Ukraine in its war against Russia.
The far-right figure has accused Ukrainian soldiers of committing war crimes and President Vladamir Zelensky of faking his Jewish faith. She once encouraged Russian President Vladamir Putin to seize the entire country.
Yet, on Friday, Loomer released an exceedingly friendly 45-minute interview with Zelensky recorded in Kyiv where she praised the country’s drone tactics, acknowledged she spread falsehoods about the war and expressed regrets for amplifying narratives that benefited Russia.
“I was bamboozled by Russian propaganda,” she told Zelensky, “and I came to believe a lot of untrue things about Ukraine.”
The admission marked a stunning reversal by one of Trump’s most loyal allies — one the president appeared to immediately embrace. On Thursday, Trump shared a promotional clip of the interview on Truth Social and wrote: “Very good!!!”
Two senior administration officials told CNN that the White House was unaware that Loomer had made the trip to war-torn Ukraine — a 30-hour journey that she said included a lengthy train ride from Poland to Kyiv because of airspace restrictions. Neither the White House nor the State Department responded to questions from CNN about her appearance there.
Her visit nevertheless presented a striking reminder of the unconventional currents that sometimes shape Trump’s foreign policy orbit. Images of her appearing alongside Zelensky emerged the same day Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in the Philippines. Loomer received a commitment from Zelensky to sign a peace deal with Russia at the White House or Trump’s Palm Beach estate; Rubio, meanwhile, acknowledged there’s been little movement toward an agreement.
Zelensky is set to meet Trump at the White House on Tuesday, a White House official told CNN. Zelensky said earlier this week that he’d spoken to Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. “It was a good, important conversation on how to reinvigorate diplomacy and bring peace closer,” he posted on X.
Until recently, Loomer — who spends a significant amount of her time identifying and criticizing allegedly disloyal employees within the Trump administration — seemed unlikely ever to express sympathies for the Ukrainian people. In addition to using her massive digital platform to rally MAGA against the country in the war, she also previously wrote a series of op-eds for RT, the Kremlin-funded international television network.
A person in Kyiv with knowledge of how the Zelensky interview was arranged told CNN that there was a “considerable effort” in recent weeks to change Loomer’s worldview.
Reached briefly by phone as she toured the wreckage from a Russian airstrike, Loomer said she had a positive experience speaking with Zelensky. In subsequent messages with CNN, she did not elaborate on how the trip was arranged.
In her conversation with Zelensky, Loomer distanced herself from past statements accusing him of supporting neo-Nazi militias and praised the country’s new law criminalizing antisemitism. During her visit, she also met a prominent Ukrainian rabbi, Moshe Reuven Azman.
Loomer’s conversion drew a range of reactions, including deep skepticism from liberals and anti-Trump Republicans on X, some of whom questioned whether her change in view was genuine or financial. Loomer told the news outlet Puck that she paid for her own plane ticket but declined to say how other arrangements were covered, like security and her train ticket.
“The government of Ukraine did not pay for me to go, if that’s what you’re asking,” she told Puck.
Tim Pool, another far-right commentator and outspoken Ukraine critic, appeared to mock Loomer on X by posting his own change-of-heart on the war that he later seemed to reveal was insincere.
However, Zelensky’s inner circle was pleased with the initial reaction to Loomer’s appearance, the Kyiv source said, and they are optimistic she can now be an influential voice of support for Ukraine given her credibility with the president and many of his supporters. During the interview, Zelensky praised Trump and was receptive to Loomer’s overtures on how to win over MAGA, though he declined to say who he thought was better between President Joe Biden and the current office holder.
“History will answer,” he said, before naming Abraham Lincoln as the country’s best leader.
Loomer’s revisiting her longstanding opposition to Ukraine follows an escalating feud with Tucker Carlson over his opposition to Trump’s war with Iran. Like Loomer, Carlson has regularly shared Russian talking points while opposing US support for Ukraine’s defense.
But Loomer has grown increasingly suspicious of Carlson’s motivations, exposing a deep ideological fracture within the MAGA movement over foreign policy. Amid her travels to Ukraine, Loomer took aim at Carlson. At one point, she ate at a McDonalds still operating amid the rubble caused by airstrikes, a gesture intended to evoke Carlson’s controversial visit to Moscow two years ago, when he interviewed Putin, praised it as “nicer than any” US city and ate a Russian knock-off of the golden arches. McDonalds pulled out of the country in 2022 shortly after it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The emerging divisions within Trump’s base over the war comes amid intensifying air strikes between Ukraine and Russia. June marked the deadliest month for Ukraine civilians in more than four years, the United Nation’s recently reported, while drone attacks on Russian infrastructure and its warships have led to mounting casualties and presented new challenges for Putin.
Congress is weighing punishing Moscow with further sanctions in a bill designed to honor the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia. Trump has expressed a willingness to sign the bill if it also includes sanctions against Iran.
Asked about the sanctions legislation, Zelensky told Loomer that Trump “exactly understood who really doesn’t want to stop the war.”
“He understood that we really want peace,” Zelensky said.
CNN’s Kristen Holmes contributed to this report.