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<\/div>KYIV, Ukraine (AP) \u2014\u00a0Laura Loomer<\/a>, an ardent ally of President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0with a reputation for incendiary social media commentary, sat down with Ukrainian President\u00a0Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a>\u00a0on Thursday after a dramatic turnaround on the war that could have political reverberations back in Washington.<\/p>\n Loomer had spent years minimizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amplifying Russian propaganda to her nearly 2 million followers. This week she had a change of heart.<\/p>\n “Just experienced my first air raid in Ukraine. Sirens blaring. This is everyday for every Ukrainian,” Loomer\u00a0wrote on X<\/a> during her visit to the country. “I often said I don’t care. Looking back, that wasn’t very nice of me to say.”<\/p>\n “We need to have moral clarity,”\u00a0she added Thursday.<\/a><\/p>\n It was a stunning reversal for a woman who had spent years criticizing U.S. support for Ukraine’s defense, declaring it “a country full of Nazi apologists” \u2014 a claim used by Russia to justify its yearslong invasion \u2014 and “led by a Jihadi apologist.”<\/p>\n The skepticism of Ukraine has been shared by other major conservative influencers, including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The issue became a\u00a0major point of contention<\/a>\u00a0between more traditional Republicans, like former Vice President Mike Pence, and Trump’s MAGA base. Vice President JD Vance was among the earliest and most vocal critics of continued U.S. military aid to the country, and he and Trump clashed with Zelenskyy in\u00a0a heated Oval Office meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n It was unclear what had prompted Loomer’s trip or how she had arranged the meeting with\u00a0Zelenskyy<\/a>, which she plugged as an interview for her Rumble show, “Loomer Unleashed.”<\/p>\n She posted a photo of the two and later a clip from the interview in which she asked Zelenskyy about the Oval Office confrontation and how his relationship with Trump seemed to have improved since then. Zelenskyy credited a\u00a0brief conversation at the Vatican<\/a>\u00a0for the detente \u2014 one he called a “historic moment, because we changed the relations during 15, 20 minutes.”<\/p>\n Loomer and the White House did not respond to requests for comment on the trip, but Trump gave his stamp of approval on social media.<\/p>\n “Very good!!!” he wrote on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n The meeting was confirmed earlier by Dmytro Lytvyn, a spokesperson for the president, who said that no Ukrainian government institution had organized the visit. He added that Zelenskyy’s office first learned that Loomer was in Ukraine through social media.<\/p>\n “It is really important that @LauraLoomer is in Ukraine and sees things with her own eyes as they are,” Zelenskyy’s office\u00a0had written<\/a>\u00a0Tuesday.<\/p>\n “It takes courage to come to Ukraine and not be deterred by Russian propaganda or air raid sirens. Thank you, Laura,”\u00a0the office added Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n In addition to the meeting with Zelenskyy, Loomer also visited the Dormition Cathedral of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, one of the country’s most significant religious landmarks, which\u00a0came under Russian attack last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n The attack on the\u00a0monastic complex<\/a>\u00a0of golden domes in the heart of Kyiv, which is also known as the Monastery of the Caves, sparked a fire that\u00a0caused significant interior and exterior damage,<\/a> according to UNESCO. Zelenskyy had called it Moscow’s “biggest crime yet against Christian culture.”<\/p>\n Russia\u00a0denied responsibility for the attack<\/a>, claiming, without offering evidence, that the complex was hit by one of Ukraine’s U.S.-made Patriot air defense missiles \u2014 saying that it might have veered off course due to its age.<\/p>\n In a video recorded\u00a0from inside the church,<\/a>\u00a0Loomer accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of hypocrisy by portraying Russia as pro-Christian.<\/p>\n “I just don’t think that you should be allowed to say that you’re protecting Christianity if you’re trying to drone strike Jesus Christ,” she said.<\/p>\n Sergiy Kyslytsya and Tetyana Berezhna, two top Ukrainian officials, were among those who met with Loomer and\u00a0joined her for the visit<\/a>.<\/p>\n The meeting comes amid continued hostilities between Russia and Ukraine that have been overshadowed in recent months by the war with Iran.<\/p>\n Secretary of State\u00a0Marco Rubio<\/a>\u00a0said Thursday at\u00a0an annual gathering of foreign ministers<\/a>\u00a0in Manila that the administration is poised to help end the\u00a0“senseless war” in Ukraine<\/a>\u00a0but acknowledged there was no quick path to a deal.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Colvin reported from New York.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n