An ex-British soldier fighting Ukraine who was tortured after being captured by Russian troops has blasted Donald Trump’s proposed “peace” deal.
Shaun Pinner unleashed a scathing assessment of US President Trump after the Republican appeared to demand few concessions from Russia. The US President appeared to blame Ukraine for the war and said they could have “made a deal” to avoid it.
Mr Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to hold elections, a Kremlin demand, despite the country’s constitution does not permit elections during times of war. He also claimed Zelensky has a 4 per cent approval rating, far from the 57 per cent actually recorded by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology.
The US President has also appeared willing to allow Russia to keep territory it gained after launching its invasion and refused to offer any security guarantees to Ukraine. A leaked document also said the US demanded 50 per cent cut of Ukraine’s mineral resources in return for peace estimated to be worth $500billion, a steep figure on the $183bn the US has sent to the country.
“I was electrocuted, beaten, stabbed in the leg and starved after being captured while defending my home and family in Mariupol,” Mr Pinner said. “We held back the Putin invasion for several weeks while Russia slaughtered over 25,000 predominantly Russian speaking Ukrainians including women and children. Trump is mad or owned.”
Mr Pinner’s post was in response to comments made by Trump during a press conference in the White House where he told reporters: “Russia fought for that land in Ukraine and lost a lot of soldiers doing it, so Russia should keep it.” In another comment, Mr Pinner added: “We firmly detach ourselves from the Trump administration. Keep them at arms length. Trump is just a parrot for the Kemlin.”
The Brit moved to Ukraine with his Ukrainian wife and joined country’s army in 2018. He previously said he considers Mariupol to be his home. Trump’s Kremlin pivot is part of a larger shift among Republicans who have increasingly argued against becoming entangled in foreign conflicts and spending American taxpayer money abroad.
According to Pew Research polling shared on February 14, 47 per cent of Republicans said the US is providing too much support for Ukraine. Popular figures on the American right, such as commentator Tucker Carlson have shared a more positive view of Russia due to President Putin’s apparent claim to support conservative values.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed Trump had been exposed to a disinformation. “Unfortunately, President Trump – I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us – unfortunately lives in this disinformation space,” he told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday.
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