President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club on Saturday.Donald Trump is “directly responsible for the deaths of many Ukrainians” by limiting Kyiv’s access to American intelligence in its war with Russia, according to a former UK foreign secretary.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind branded the US president “repulsive” and “a disgrace” for apparently siding with Moscow in his attempts to end the conflict.
His comments come after Trump faced accusations that he limited Ukraine’s access to the Starshield network which helps to protect the country from Russian attacks.
The president has also called for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be replaced while agreeing a sanctions-busting deal with Vladimir Putin to buy Russian diesel.
Critics have said that is a desperate attempt to bring down pump prices for American motorists ahead of next month’s midterm elections, which Trump’s Republican Party is expected to lose heavily.
Speaking on Sky News on Sunday, Rifkind – who served as foreign secretary in John Major’s government – said: “I think this week Donald Trump has shown himself as a person to be repulsive, as a president of the United States to be a disgrace to his own people as well as to his own international responsibilities.
“We all know that his actual reasons for this are a grubby attempt to win a few more votes in the midterms by trying to get oil prices down.
“In order to achieve that, he has not only betrayed Ukraine in the middle of a war fighting for its very existence, but he is also directly responsible for the deaths of many Ukrainians who will not now be protected by the attempts that have been successfully made in using intelligence provided by the States.”
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