The former US ambassador to Ukraine said on Friday that she resigned last month because of President Donald Trump’s policy of “appeasement” in the war launched by Russia against the pro-Western country.
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“I cannot stand by while a country is invaded, a democracy bombarded, and children killed with impunity,” Bridget Brink said in an essay in the Detroit Free Press.
“I believe that the only way to secure US interests is to stand up for democracies and to stand against autocrats. Peace at any price is not peace at all – it is appeasement.”
The US State Department announced in April that Brink – who was appointed by Democratic former US president Joe Biden – was stepping down.
Brink took up the ambassador’s post in wartime Kyiv in May 2022, three months after Russia launched its bloody attempt to conquer its neighbour, prompting a massive, US-led Western programme to arm and support Ukraine.
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‘This is not a celebration’: Ukraine marks third anniversary of Russian invasion
‘This is not a celebration’: Ukraine marks third anniversary of Russian invasion
Since taking back the White House, Trump has upended Biden’s Ukraine policy, slowing military aid, reaching out to Russia – and often blaming Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky rather than Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin for the continuation of the war.