CAMPAIGNERS will rally outside the US consulate in Edinburgh to protest Donald Trump's treatment of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as well as his reversed US policy towards Ukraine and increasingly pro-Russian stance.
Organised by Ukraine Solidarity Campaign Scotland and branded an "emergency rally", attendees have been asked to gather at the consulate on Regent Terrace on Wednesday from 6pm.
Rally speakers confirmed so far include Jen Stout, journalist and award-winning author of Night Train to Odesa, SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson, and representatives of the Ukrainian community in Scotland.
The Ukraine Solidarity Campaign UK and Ukrainian organisations are also organising a parallel emergency demonstration at the US embassy in London on Wednesday.
The rally coincides with a Scottish Parliament debate on a motion lodged by Colin Beattie: Three Years of Solidarity with Ukraine.
The collective action comes after Trump gave president Zelenskyy a brutal dressing down in the White House on Friday.
Peter Cooper, secretary of Ukraine Solidarity Campaign Scotland, said: "President Trump's policy decisions on Ukraine and his insulting behaviour towards Ukraine's elected Head of State, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have have shocked and outraged much of the world. Trump has reversed US policy towards Ukraine, openly allying with the indicted war-criminal Putin and treating Ukraine as if it were a defeated enemy.
"He is negotiating a ceasefire with Putin, giving away Ukrainian territory and people, stealing Ukrainian minerals, without any participation or involvement of the Ukrainian government or people. At the same time he is refusing to provide any security guarantees against renewed offensives by the Russian armed forces now or in the future.
"President Zelenskyy's response has been dignified and firm, that he will not recognise any agreement between the United States and Russia without the direct participation and consent of the Ukraine government in formulating an agreement.
"The UK Government has stood with Ukraine, and resisted US political and commercial pressures to abandon Ukraine. It must continue to do so. Ukraine is fighting both for itself and for us all, in defending our democracies against the authoritarians.
"It must qualitatively step up its economic and military aid to Ukraine."
