Ukrainians Welcome a U.S. Victory in Venezuela, and Lament a Double Standard

Ukraine’s government supports the removal of a dictator while members of Parliament question the wisdom of endorsing military interventions, even against a Russian ally.

Ukrainians have cheered a long string of Russian geopolitical setbacks coinciding with the war in their country: Swedish and Finnish membership in NATO, Russia’s pullback from the South Caucasus and the collapse of the Russian-supported regime in Syria.

But the American capture of Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuela president and Russian ally, is different. Ukrainian lawmakers and commentators are divided on whether to celebrate the downfall of Mr. Maduro, a longtime Russian client, or to condemn a military intervention, as they have asked the world to do since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the liberation of Venezuelans from authoritarianism, while not outright endorsing the operation. It was a nod of support for the Trump administration, which is overseeing peace talks with Russia — though it came with yet another appeal for President Trump to toughen his stance on Russia.

“Well, what can I say,” Mr. Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv. “If dictators can be dealt with in this way, then the United States of America knows what it should do next.”

Ukraine’s foreign minister, Adnrii Sybiha, praised the freeing of a country from despotism. “Ukraine has consistently defended the right of nations to live freely, free from dictatorship, oppression and human rights violations,” Mr. Sybiha, wrote in a post on X. The government of Mr. Maduro, he wrote, “has violated all such principles in every respect.” There is no indication so far that the Venezuelan government will change policies after Mr. Maduro’s capture.

The official statements of support came despite Ukrainian commentators noting a double standard: Ukraine has for four years been asking nations to condemn Russia.

Mr. Zelensky narrowly escaped capture or assassination by the Russians at the start of the invasion, which began in Ukraine in similar ways to the American action this past weekend in Venezuela, with airstrikes and a helicopter assault aimed at the capital. Russia’s helicopter attack failed but Mr. Zelensky has said one objective was his capture or killing.

To be sure, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a vastly different war. It began with a ground assault by nearly 200,000 troops and aimed from the outset at overthrowing the government militarily, not just capturing the leader. And it has stretched for nearly four years.

It is early to assess the scope of the American action in Venezuela. Mr. Trump said Saturday the United States would “run” Venezuela and its oil industry and that the United States was prepared to send soldiers if needed.

Nations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have long rejected parallels drawn between Moscow’s militarism in this region and the U.S. exercise of armed dominance in Latin America, with roots in what is historically known as the Monroe Doctrine. Russia in 2008 unilaterally claimed a sphere of “privileged interest” in the former Soviet space, a policy sometimes jokingly called by diplomats Russia’s “Monroesky Doctrine.”

The Trump administration’s ouster of Mr. Maduro will only help Russia justify aggression in its neighborhood, some Ukrainian commentators lamented.

“The normalization of the right of the strong in international relations for Ukraine is a problem that prevails over all other issues,” Mykola Bielieskov, an analyst with a nongovernmental group supporting soldiers, Come Back Alive, wrote on Facebook.

A member of Parliament, Mykola Knizhytsky, wrote, also on Facebook, that the American attack on Venezuela risked a division of the world into claimed spheres of influence. Ukraine, he said, “should be ready for Russia to exploit this.”

Pavlo Klymkyn, a former foreign minister, said in an interview that Ukrainians should not cheer too loudly for the downfall of Mr. Maduro. Russia, having endured setbacks elsewhere while fighting in Ukraine, could double down on achieving its goals in the war.

Other Ukrainian analysts saw an unalloyed benefit in the fall of a Russian-backed ruler. Russia’s inability to protect an ally and the quick work the U.S. forces made with Russian air defense systems in Venezuela were signs of geopolitical weakness for Moscow, they say.

Russia’s military, economic and political efforts have been poured into the war in Ukraine despite a glacially slow pace of advance and casualties in the hundreds of thousands.

The American intervention in Venezuela, Anatolii Khrapchynskyi, a Ukrainian air force officer and commentator, wrote on Telegram, “strikes at the Kremlin’s most valuable asset, its reputation as a guarantor” of its allies’ security — not looking good now with Mr. Maduro in U.S. custody. Russia came to Mr. Maduro’s aid, the Ukrainian commentator noted, only with “rhetoric.”

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