Donald Trump shocked the world when he hit “pause” on US military aid to Ukraine on Monday after a disastrous meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, where he accused him of “not wanting peace”.
The White House said Trump wanted to “commit” the Ukrainian leader to a peace deal, with the pause on US aid enabling the country to “contribute to a solution”.
Russia approved of the news, echoing the president’s claim that the move would bring Kyiv to the negotiating table.
But it has sparked outrage from across the Atlantic, with one Tory MP accusing Trump of being a “Russian asset”.
Former Tory environment secretary Graham Stuart suggested that Trump’s second presidency was “the crowning achievement of Putin’s FSB career”, leaving Europe effectively “on its own”.
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The Ukrainian leader’s trip to the US to sign a deal over the country’s mineral rights escalated into a shouting match on Friday, with Zelensky sent packing just two hours after he arrived.
Trump and US Vice President JD Vance tore into the European leader over what they perceived as insufficient gratitude for over $180 billion (£142.2 billion) in military aid contributed to the Ukraine conflict by America since war broke out in 2022.
A White House official said the US was “pausing and reviewing” its aid, and that the order would remain in effect until Ukraine demonstrates an appropriate commitment to peace negotiations.
In the lead-up to the November 2024 US election, Trump pledged to make ending the war in Ukraine a priority once in office, even boasting that he could bring the long-running conflict to an end in just one day.
The US President has also criticised Zelensky’s suggestion that the end of the war could be “very, very far away”.
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump said in a post on the social media platform Truth Social.
Without directly responding to the US President’s comments, Zelensky later clarified that it was important to “end this war [as soon] as possible”.
“We need real peace and Ukrainians want it most because the war ruins out cities and towns,” he said on X. “We lose our people. We need to stop the war and to guarantee safety.”
