vassal

Moore said that while Russia was gaining ground in Ukraine on the battlefield, it would fail in its aim of imposing political control over Kyiv and turning the country into a vassal state.

Vietnam was a French colony, a Chinese vassal and for 20 years, the proxy battlefield in America's bloody struggle to stop China spreading communism across South East Asia.

But in private, GOP representatives and senators speak openly about Trump’s treatment of their caucus not as a check or equal partner, but as a vassal of his presidency.

"It's not in Europe's interest, and it's not in America's interest, for Europe to be a permanent security vassal of the United States," Vance said.

"His task is to seize all of Ukraine, change its legal status, and change the president and government. He wants to destroy our political system and to make Ukraine his vassal state."