Ekaterina Girnyk11:13, 04.03.25

Democrats say Trump has effectively bowed to Putin.

US President Donald Trump’s decision to halt aid to Ukraine has received immediate backlash from Democrats, who, as Reuters and The Washington Post write , accuse Trump of bowing to Vladimir Putin and essentially giving him permission to continue his aggression against Ukraine.

“Trump cutting off this aid is not a sign of strength, it’s a sign of weakness. He’s bowing to Putin and making us less safe. Republicans should publicly condemn this,” said California Democrat Mark Takano.

House Armed Services Committee member Joe Courtney called the move “a capitulation to Putin’s illegal, unprovoked invasion.”

At the same time, Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted that Trump gave Putin the go-ahead for further aggression.

“By freezing military aid to Ukraine, President Trump is opening the door for Putin to escalate his brutal aggression against innocent Ukrainians. The consequences will undoubtedly be devastating,” she said.

Trump’s decision was also criticized by France’s junior minister for European affairs, Benjamin Haddad.

He noted that the suspension of arms supplies to Ukraine makes peace “more distant, because it only strengthens the hand of the aggressor on earth, which is Russia.”

Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said Trump’s suspension of military aid looked like the US president was “pushing Kyiv to capitulate, that is, (acceptance) of Russia’s demands.”

(C)UNIAN 2025