Dmitri Kovalevich
Apr 20, 2025
In Ukraine, portrayals of 1975 collapse of the US-backed government in South Vietnam are now being brazenly invoked as ‘reminders’ to the US government that it must not allow a similar outcome to take place today vis-à-vis Russia.
The governing regime in Kiev is desperately trying to maintain its US support, as a defeat of the US-led, NATO proxy war in Ukraine looms. It is citing the collapse of the government in South Vietnam in April 1975 as a warning, saying that something similar could happen in Ukraine. At the time, the US defeat in Vietnam was a huge blow to the image and standing of US imperialism in the world.
Such pronouncements by the Kiev regime reveal a recognition that ‘its’ Ukraine has become a satellite of the United States – much as South Vietnam was widely recognized to be half a century ago. Then as now, Washington and its allies are desperately seeking to maintain their economic and military dominance over the world and to stop rising movements of liberation by the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The ominous ghost of Saigon over Kiev
Ukrainian media are widely reporting the upcoming date of April 30. This was the day nearly 50 years ago of the final end of the quasi-genocidal ‘American War’ (as the Vietnamese people call it) in Vietnam. That day, the world witnessed on television or other news outlets the final fall of Saigon. Iconic images filled the world’s media of the rooftop evacuations by helicopter from the US embassy in Saigon of the last US personnel along with their collaborators.
Television channels are today showing footage of that dramatic evacuation. But in ultra-nationalist Ukraine – whose territorial control continues to shrink across what was once recognized as eastern and southern Ukraine – portrayals of 1975 are now being brazenly invoked as ‘reminders’ to the US government that it must not allow a similar outcome to take place today vis-à-vis Russia. They say the US is obliged to provide Ukraine with enough weapons and promises of military backing to prevent a military defeat of the NATO proxy war, going so far as to brandish the specter of nuclear conflict with Russia.
The Ukrainian online daily Strana wrote on April 6 that, just as Saigon had no ability to influence US military decisions back then, Kiev today is equally powerless to affect whatever Washington may decide. It notes the similarity in the level of corruption of the South Vietnamese and Ukrainian authorities. ‘South Vietnam’ was totally dependent on Western financial aid for its survival, and Ukraine presents a similar picture in the year 2025.
Returning to the events of 50 years ago in Vietnam, we can say that the main conclusion to draw in Ukraine and any other country is that when determining political strategy, one should proceed, first of all, from reliance on one’s own political and military forces. Rely on them, not solely on the help of external players, especially if they are located somewhere far away.
Fully one year ago, Oleksiy Arestovich, a former advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine, who now lives in exile in the US, acknowledged that for the US, Ukraine is today’s South Vietnam. The US was not able to ‘save’ South Vietnam and will not be able to save the Kiev regime, he told an interviewer.
Ukrainian economist Oleksiy Kushch also draws a parallel between Ukraine and South Vietnam, reminding his readers on Telegram on April 3 that the US always prioritizes its own interests. He says the Ukrainian elite has a growing sense of resentment over this. “A part of the Ukrainian society sincerely does not understand why the US would sacrifice the interests of other countries for the sake of itself. But if you know history, at least at the level of a grade school student, it becomes clear that the United States has repeatedly done so. It is doing the same thing in Ukraine today and will continue to do so here and elsewhere.”
You cannot simply take funding from the Americans with no strings attached. They will definitely demand favors in return that you cannot refuse. In Ukraine, a part of the society holds irrational beliefs that the Trump administration would place the national interests of Ukraine above the national interests of the United States. That is a provocative expectation to be voicing.
Kusch reminds his readers that the relations of the US with its allies are always those of a suzerain with its dominions. Some Ukrainian politicians have even gone so far as to cite Trump’s various annexation threats against other countries, suggesting that Ukraine might be a more fitting candidate for such a role.
Ukrainian political analyst Andriy Telizhenko, who lives in the US, says that from the US point of view, “the Kiev regime needs to be shown its place”, as reported by Politnavigator on Telegram several weeks ago. “Ukraine must pay for the fact that it dragged America into this war. Many in the US are saying it was not the American people who incited Ukraine to war but the Biden administration, so Ukraine is to blame for going into this war and taking so many military and economic resources from the Americans.”
Telizhenko asks why it is considered ‘extreme’ to suggest that Ukraine negotiate with the Russian Federation but not extreme to suggest that the country continues receiving whatever military assistance from the United States is deemed necessary.
Earlier, fugitive Ukrainian legislator Artem Dmytruk emphasized that Kiev’s problem is that those in power in Ukraine do not know history and rely on unlimited support from the United States. “Few people in power in Ukraine know history; they don’t want to know it. They don’t know about Vietnam, and they don’t know about Afghanistan and Iraq. If an ally is no longer useful and needed for America, it gives up the ally in exchange for some kind of deal,” the former legislator wrote from London.
How the tail is wagging the dog in attacks on China
One of the new tactics adopted by Kiev in April to pressure Washington into maintaining its military and financial support has been to level accusations that Chinese soldiers are directly participating in the conflict on Russia’s side. It is widely known, of course, that the Trump administration considers the People’s Republic of China as a major threat to US interests.
Earlier, in late 2024, Kiev also began insisting that soldiers from North Korea were participating in the conflict on Russia’s side. Western media picked up this information, but the rumors soon dissipated when no evidence was forthcoming. Kiev has also tried to implicate Iran with various accusations, knowing how well this would resonate in Washington if proven to be true. But here too, no proof has been offered. Ukrainian media have been trying their best, for example by persistently referring to Russian-made ‘Geran’ drones as being Iran-produced ‘Shaheds’. All this is critically important for Kiev to present itself to the Western powers as an ally in the fight against the Western-named ‘Axis of Evil’.
On April 8, just after Trump’s trade war with China began, Zelensky announced to much fanfare that the Ukrainian armed forces had captured two Chinese prisoners of war allegedly fighting in the Russian army. Zelensky said “significantly more than two” Chinese soldiers were captured. Ukraine’s foreign ministry summoned the Chinese chargé d’affaires in early April to “demand explanations”.
Vyacheslav Azarov, a Ukrainian anarchist from Odessa (leader of the Union of Anarchists of Ukraine), wrote on Telegram on April 8 that the hope that this could be followed by a resumption of American military support for Ukraine “is very questionable.”
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