Former defence secretary accuses the US president of ‘weasel’ words and a ‘lack of moral clarity’ on Moscow
Joe Barnes. Brussels Correspondent
17 April 2025
Donald Trump’s refusal to blame Vladimir Putin for the war in Ukraine is “completely demoralising” for democratic nations, Grant Shapps has said.
The former defence secretary accused the US president of “weasel” words over his failure to condemn the Russian ballistic missile strike on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, which killed at least 34 civilians and injured more than 100.
Mr Trump blamed Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, and Joe Biden for starting the long-running war despite the images of lifeless bodies, including children, filmed on the streets alongside ruined buildings and burning cars on Palm Sunday.
“You don’t start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles,” Mr Trump said at the White House on Monday.
He said the Russian attack was “terrible” but added that he had been told it was a “mistake”.
In what could signal a return to politics for Mr Shapps, the former Conservative high-flyer went further than Sir Keir Starmer in his criticism of the US president.
The leader of Mr Shapps’ party, Kemi Badenoch, has remained entirely silent on the strike, the deadliest by Russian forces this year.
“I feel disgusted. The idea that the leader of the free world cannot tell the difference between the dictator who locks up and murders his opponents and invades innocent democratic countries and the country itself that has been invaded,” Mr Shapps told the One Decision podcast.
Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, five years before Mr Zelensky became president. Putin then launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
Mr Trump went on to say: “Biden could have stopped it and Zelensky could have stopped it, and Putin should have never started it. Everybody is to blame.”
Of Mr Trump’s comments, Mr Shapps added: “This lack of moral clarity is completely demoralising for the rest of the democratic world…Yeah, I mean, it’s a sort of weasel language. We used to hear it from the IRA.”
Mr Shapps, who held five Cabinet positions, suggested Mr Trump’s promise to end Russia’s war against Ukraine was an “appeasement” of Putin, and accused him of making a Chinese invasion of Taiwan more likely.
He said: “Surely you must understand that if you let one dictator get away with it, what do you think will happen when another dictator walks into a neighbouring state or one just over the water and takes it over?”
“The one thing I believe about Trump is he doesn’t want China to walk into Taiwan… you’re making the one thing you don’t want far more likely,” he added.
Mr Shapps’ comments represent the strongest criticism of the American’s approach to securing an end to the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s most ardent Western supporters have so far been unable to convince Mr Trump to deviate from his apparent strategy of taking it easy on Putin to maintain diplomatic channels in the hope of one day brokering a ceasefire, and then a peace deal.
Am pretty amazed that so far Kemi Badenoch has not commented on the demonic attack inflicted by the putler murder gang on Sumy.
I hope and trust that she will have something to say shortly.
Comment from :
Allan Edmunds
What the Hell is going on with Trump and Putin? They are as thick as thieves.
Quite appalling.
Something is badly wrong with the relationship between those two.
Trump is clearly in the power of Putin and, the most likely thing, since Putin is ex KGB, is that Putin has got so much dirt on Trump that he daren’t cross Putin and the rest of the Russian Mob whom Trump appears to have had involvement with in the past.
Trump appears willing to take on the entire planet EXCEPT Putin’s Russia,which apparently can do no wrong as far as he is concerned.
Does Trump think the USA can merge with Russia ?
Russia is the biggest land mass in the world.
Trump seems bent on merging with Canada, which is the second biggest land mass in the world so maybe it’s not too far fetched that a Russia/USA merger is festering away in Trump’s imagination.
“Of Mr Trump’s comments, Mr Shapps added: “This lack of moral clarity is completely demoralising for the rest of the democratic world…Yeah, I mean, it’s a sort of weasel language. We used to hear it from the IRA.”
Reminder: the IRA; the most vile murder gang in the world until AQ came along, was and probably remains a wholly-owned subsidiary of ruZZia.