Hillary Clinton: Trump administration's position on Ukraine is disgraceful

Hillary Clinton, the former US secretary of state and wife of ex-president Bill Clinton, has called current US leader Donald Trump's position on Ukraine in the war against Russia "disgraceful".

Source: Hillary Clinton during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference, as reported by Ukrinform

Quote: "I think that the Trump administration's position towards Ukraine is disgraceful.

I think the effort to force Ukraine into a surrender deal with Putin is shameful. I think the effort that Putin and Trump are making to profit off the misery and death of the Ukrainian people is a historic error and corrupt to the nth degree.

I believe Ukraine is fighting for our democracy and our values of freedom and civilisation on the front lines, losing thousands of people."

Details: Clinton added that the Russo-Ukrainian war is driven by "one man's mania to control" Ukrainians.

She also said she believes Trump either does not comprehend the scale of the suffering or does not care about it.

Clinton accused the US president of undermining Western unity and international commitments.

Quote: "He has betrayed the West. He's betrayed human values. He's betrayed the NATO Charter, the Atlantic Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights."

Details: Clinton added that no one present in the room would choose to live under a regime that was so unaccountable and acted with impunity "the way that Putin does, except that's who Trump is modelling himself after".

She believes that Ukraine's ability to strike targets inside Russia could create the conditions for serious negotiations.

Quote: "There is a plan. The plan is: give the Ukrainians Tomahawks, give them more missiles for their Patriot defence systems, allow them to inflict more damage beyond the border into Russia."

Clinton noted that it was at the point when Ukraine was able to reach targets inside Russia and "inflict enough pain" that discussions about negotiations began.

She also emphasised that losses of Russian military personnel alone are "not enough pain" for Putin. In her opinion, pain must be inflicted on oil refineries and missile sites – pain that will actually create the conditions for more effective negotiations.

Background:

• US President Donald Trump said that his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy "has to move" and reach a deal to end the Russo-Ukrainian war.
• His remarks came amid media reports that US and Ukrainian negotiators had discussed the possibility of signing a peace agreement in March and holding elections in Ukraine in May.
• Zelenskyy said earlier that the United States has proposed ending Russia's war against Ukraine by the summer, as they will have a different priority later – the US congressional elections.

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