On Feb. 28, never in my life had I been so ashamed to call myself an American.

The ambush of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in the Oval Office was a despicable display of brutish disrespect of a wartime ally of the U.S.

The past three years have seen the people of Ukraine heroically stand against a much larger foe who invaded their land and brutally killed and raped its citizens. This was done with the support of United States and its European allies with the belief that Vladimir Putin has stated his desire to return Russia to its former territories by subjugating and subsuming the Eastern European and Baltic countries.

Mr. Zelenskyy has graciously thanked the U.S. on many occasions for its support of the Ukrainian people.

Ever since the founding of our nation, the U.S. has stood as champion for democratic values. We have at times made mistakes on the world stage, but it was always with good intentions.

What we saw in this Oval Office attack on the Ukrainian nation was clearly intended to realign our nation with a brutal dictator. This does make me wonder if in fact the president of the United States has been compromised in some manner by Vladimir Putin.

Donald Potter, Otisfield