KYIV (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s pause of all military aid to Ukraine looks like he is trying to push Kyiv towards capitulation on Russia’s terms, a senior Ukrainian lawmaker said on Tuesday.
“To stop aid now means to help (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of Ukraine’s Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, told Reuters.
“On the surface, this looks really bad. It looks like he is pushing us towards capitulation, meaning (accepting) Russia’s demands,” he said.
The aid pause came after Trump upended U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia upon taking office in January, adopting a more conciliatory stance towards Moscow.
It also follows an explosive confrontation with Zelenskiy at the White House on Friday in which Trump accused him of being insufficiently grateful for Washington’s backing in the war with Russia.
“The main thing is that this a psychological blow, a political blow upon Ukraine, it doesn’t help our spirit” Merezhko said.
He compared the aid stoppage to the Munich Agreement of 1938, when Nazi Germany was allowed to annex part of Czechoslovakia.
“This is worse than Munich, because 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.”
(Reporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
