“We spend so much money”: Trump called the condition for the provision of military assistance to Ukraine

The US will continue to delay the allocation of funds for the military needs of Ukraine until the European Union increases its financial assistance to Kiev. This was announced on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly by US President Donald Trump.

“They do not do this. Only the United States. We invest most of the money, and I ask: why on earth? ”Trump told reporters.

At the same time, the American leader, commenting on media reports about the freezing of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $ 400 million, added that all the funds "were fully paid."

However, according to him, delays will continue in the future if the EU does not change its position on this issue.

The day before, the American leader made a statement of a similar nature.

“We spend so much money - on Ukraine and not only. Why is Germany not spending more money? Why is France not doing this? Why do other European countries not render Ukraine more significant assistance? Why is the USA always doing this? I talk about this from the very beginning. I don’t like that only we are doing this, ”Trump said at a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda.

Earlier, The Washington Post, citing "sources" in the White House administration, reported that Trump a week before a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky (held July 25) ordered to temporarily freeze Ukraine’s allocation of $ 400 million.

As one of the newspaper’s “sources” noted, the American leader was “concerned about the high level of corruption” in Ukraine. At the same time, another representative of the presidential administration rejected the suggestion that Trump was thus trying to put pressure on Zelensky.

Meanwhile, in September, Congress passed a bill to provide financial assistance to Ukraine in the field of defense and security. We are talking about the allocation of $ 250 million through the Pentagon and $ 141.5 million from the US State Department.

“Trump’s decision was dictated by both foreign and domestic political reasons. Today, Ukraine is partially featured in the domestic political agenda in the United States in connection with the next scandals against the backdrop of the presidential election in the United States. Moreover, Donald Trump never hid his intentions for the EU to take a more active part in financing the projects that Washington is involved in. In particular, Ukraine is one of those projects that the United States has been involved in for many years in a row, ”political analyst Ivan Mezyuho told RT.

Question Biden

At the same time, the leaders of the three committees of the US House of Representatives accused Trump of delaying military assistance to put pressure on Kiev in order to obtain incriminating evidence against his political opponents. First of all, we are talking about the presidential candidate from the Democratic Party - Joe Biden, whose son Hunter was once a member of the board of directors of the private Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings. During the presidency of Petro Poroshenko, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine had suspicions of corrupt actions by Biden Jr. However, as The Hill reported, the former US vice president notified Poroshenko of the need to dismiss the then Attorney General Viktor Shokin if Kiev expects to receive further support from Washington.

It should be noted that the subject of dissatisfaction with the senators was not only a delay in allocating funds, but also reports in the American media that Trump allegedly “repeatedly exerted pressure” on Zelensky during a July telephone conversation to “start an investigation against Joe Biden’s son ".

The US President suggested that soon the journalists would see the transcript of this telephone conversation and realize that the conversation was "perfect." He also called the possible beginning of the impeachment proceedings against him “witch-hunt” and “absurdity”.

“I am leading the polls. They have no idea how to stop me. The only way they can try is impeachment, ”Trump said.

Earlier, California Democrat Adam Schiff said that if the fact of pressure "on a foreign leader" is proved, then his party associates will begin the process of impeachment against Trump.

“Helping your own military-industrial complex”

Stanislav Byshok, a political analyst at the CIS-EMO international monitoring organization, said in an interview with RT that, in his opinion, this situation has little to do with Ukraine, rather it’s the internal affairs of the United States.

“For the USA, Ukraine as such has little value. On the other hand, for Washington, the allocation of military assistance to someone is the allocation of assistance to its own defense industry. In fact, the money goes from the US budget to the American arms manufacturers, who transfer their weapons to Ukraine, ”the expert noted.

Byshok is confident that Kiev’s military support will continue as long as it benefits Washington, while it benefits from it.

Moreover, such assistance in Ukraine is perceived as a strategic partnership. This was stated by Zelensky in his message of September 13, in which he expressed gratitude for the unblocking of US military assistance.

The expert also calls not to look for hidden meanings in Trump's actions, since he has long established himself as a rather impulsive politician.

“Trump is often perceived from the outside as a person making chaotic decisions, but, on the other hand, he can then interpret it himself, that it was a desire to preserve his vis-a-vis a bit,” Byshok emphasized.

In addition, according to the expert, Trump's fluctuations can be associated with general fatigue from Ukraine and its problems. Perhaps the White House was weighing the importance of developing further partnership with this country, as well as what impact military assistance will have on relations with Russia, the expert believes.

"An unpleasant surprise"

Konstantin Blokhin, an expert at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, for his part, believes that the freezing of money allocated to Ukraine is just one of the signs of the general disappointment of the United States with regard to this country.

“The West initially wanted from Ukraine to create an effective tool to deter Russia, as well as create a model for other countries. Undecided countries that are on the side of Russia should follow the example of Ukraine. But due to corruption, it was not possible to make either an effective deterrence tool or a model, ”explained Blokhin RT.

In addition, Trump's doubts could have been caused by the very personality of Zelensky, who had not previously worked in politics. When he first appeared in the Ukrainian political arena, many in the West perceived Zelensky “as an unsystematic politician who might give out some unexpected unpleasant surprise,” the expert notes.

“Most likely, the trajectory of Western policy towards Ukraine will be slow, but changing,” the analyst concluded.