Ben Wallace, the former UK defence secretary, has said Donald Trump’s decision to suspend US intelligence sharing with Kyiv is “suffocating” Ukrainian hope of holding out against Russian aggression.
Last Friday, the US president, along with the vice-president, JD Vance, berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in full view of the media, telling the Ukrainian president that he was “gambling with world war three” and to come back to the White House “when he is ready for peace”.
In the week since, the US stopped sharing intelligence with Kyiv that had previously given advance warnings of attacks and Brussels agreed to a huge increase in defence spending.
On Friday, the day after intelligence sharing ceased, Russia carried out massive ballistic missile and drone strikes across Ukraine. Soon after the aerial attacks, Trump said Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody would do”.
Overnight strikes in eastern Ukraine on Saturday killed at least 14 people and wounded dozen more, including five children.
Wallace, who was the defence secretary when Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, said on Saturday that Trump was diminishing the hope of Ukraine with his actions.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “Hope is the most important thing in this type of conflict and, at the moment, Donald Trump is suffocating the hope that Putin can be either fought to a standstill or indeed brought to the table.”
He added: “Hope is always the key for both morale and a military campaign. When this started three years ago, I remember gathering the military officials in my then department, and saying on day one, we have to give the Ukrainians hope.
“If a Russian truck has a puncture, we need to let people know. If the Russians have a small defeat, we need to let the Ukrainian people know.”
Wallace suggested that Ukraine could still win the war if it continued holding off Russian forces. He said: “If Ukraine continues to resist for 18 months, the Russian economy will collapse. Its inflation rate’s at 23%, it’s spending 40% of its money [on defence], it’s finding it incredibly hard to replace its equipment. It can use North Koreans like cannon fodder, but fundamentally, it is not in a good place.
“Ukraine is not trying to invade Russia and go all the way to Moscow. Ukraine is trying to defend its sovereignty and its land and there is hope for them. If we were to all step up, either substitute what the Americans have taken away, or indeed show proper European resolve, and in that I include the United Kingdom, that we ain’t going anywhere.”
Leaders in Europe have convened in the past week in response to Washington’s change in stance on the war. Keir Starmer said Europe is “at a crossroads in history” and confirmed that the UK and France would lead a “coalition of the willing” to help end the fighting.
On Thursday, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, warned that “the only imperial power that I see today in Europe is Russia” and called Vladimir Putin “an imperialist who seeks to rewrite history” after the Russian president appeared to compare him to Napoleon Bonaparte.
Wallace said: “I’ve seen good leadership from both Keir Starmer and President Macron on this and they should both be congratulated.
“What I’m hoping they’re all doing right now behind the scenes is working out what the Americans have switched off, and finding European sources, or even further afield, to replace it.”
