- Kremlin welcomes US aid pause: ‘Best hope for peace’
Donald Trump’s decision to pause military aid decision has been described as “catastrophic” by a Ukrainian MP, who tells Sky News “thousands of people will die”.
“I understand we have a crisis in relationships right now after Friday’s meeting in the Oval Office, but I just want to ask Donald Trump to reconsider… maybe just give us some time to get out of this because this is catastrophic for us,” Oleksiy Goncharenko told our presenter Wilfred Frost.
He went on to say Trump’s decision will “embolden” Putin, making the division even bigger.
In a message to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Goncharenko called on the Ukrainian president to do “everything he can in order to get out of this” and said “he needs to go and apologise” to Trump.
“We need to heal this division, we need to work together with America, we need to be together,” he said.
When asked whether Volodymyr Zelenskyy should step aside, Goncharenko explained Zelenskyy said he would not seek re-election after becoming president in 2019.
“I think it’s time to remind this and maybe to say openly after the end of the war there will be elections, and I think he should at least think about not running,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has described Donald Trump’s decision to pause US military aid to Ukraine as the “best contribution to the cause of peace”.
It said the move could encourage Kyiv to “seek peace” before adding European countries will “try to compensate Ukraine” for the loss of military aid.
While the Kremlin said it would need to see the details on the pause of US aid, it said it welcomes Trump’s wish for peace in Ukraine.
This response from the Kremlin comes as no surprise, after our US correspondent David Blevins described Trump’s blow to Ukraine defences as “music to Putin’s ears” (see our 6.33am post).
“Trump’s decision to push pause disregards efforts by Sir Keir Starmer and other European leaders to devise a peace plan,” he says.
