WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump is pausing all military aid for Ukraine after a disastrous Oval Office meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, last week.
A White House official says Washington is reviewing whether billions of dollars given to Kyiv are contributing to a “solution” to end Ukraine’s war against invading Russian forces.
The move comes hours after Trump accused Zelenskyy of not wanting peace “as long as he has America’s backing” and is likely to deal a serious blow to Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russia’s invasion.
While Zelenskyy has yet to respond to Trump’s military aid pause, a high-ranking Ukrainian lawmaker has weighed in.
Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine’s Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Reuters news agency that Trump appeared to be trying to push Kyiv to capitulate on Russia’s terms.
“On the surface, this looks really bad. It looks like he is pushing us towards capitulation, meaning (accepting) Russia’s demands,” Merezhko was quoted as saying.
“The main thing is that this a psychological blow, a political blow upon Ukraine, it doesn’t help our spirit.”
Merezhko was also quoted as saying that the aid pause was worse than the 1938 Munich Agreement that allowed Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia.
“At least there they didn’t try to paint Czechoslovakia as the aggressor, but here they try to accuse the victim of aggression – it is extremely dangerous,” Merezhko said, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile Trump also says the sweeping 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada will go into effect on Tuesday and promises to add on another 10 percent tariff on goods from China, on top of the initial 10 percent he put in place last month.
French Finance Minister Eric Lombard has called for a “balanced deal” between the European Union and the United States on tariffs.
“We have negotiators who are playing hardball, we will play hardball but… we need to reach a balanced deal to protect our economies,” Lombard said in response to Trump’s threat to slap a 25 percent tariff on EU goods.
