A former spokesman for the British Army has taken aim at the US-brokered peace deal for Ukraine, instead branding it a "surrender".
Joining GB News, Major Mike Shearer weighed in on Donald Trump's attempt to settle the conflict between Kyiv and Moscow, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky due to meet the US President tomorrow.
Mr Zelensky will join the Republican at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to get further in the talks to end the full-scale war after Russia's illegal invasion back in 2022.
But tensions escalated further after Ukraine was hit with 500 drones and 40 missiles overnight, leaving behind destroyed homes and power plants, as well as a third of the city without power.
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Commenting on the potential peace plan, Major Shearer refused to hold back on his criticism.
"Look, unless Trump has had a eureka moment recently, he will be trying to persuade Zelensky to cede territory on the orders of Putin," he told presenters Charlie Peters and Olivia Utley.
He continued: "Now, that is not a deal, that is a surrender.
"I just think we must remember that Ukraine is a buffer state at the minute, fighting for its sovereignty and fighting for its democracy, and in the very same way, actually, that Israel is.
Major Mike Shearer slammed the deal so far, urging more funding to be poured into improving infrastructure
|GB NEWS
"Yet Trump takes a completely different view with Israel in the way that it does with Ukraine.The West really needs to lean in hard now and support Ukraine with everything that we have."
The Major said they must "really ramp up" investment into the industrial heartlands, accelerating the manufacturing of weapons, tanks and aircraft.
Praising Germany, Poland as well as the Baltic nations for such investment, he added: "The UK, I'm afraid, are woefully lacking in this department."
Looking towards the fateful meeting between the US and Ukrainian President in Florida tomorrow, Major Shearer said: "I think Trump will be punchy and bullish as he normally is.
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Kyiv was hit with more than 500 drones and 40 missiles on Friday night, Ukrainian authorities said
|REUTERS
"But look, imagine asking the United States to give back Alaska to Russia, which owned it previously.
"You cannot ask a country like Ukraine, a democracy, to give away its territory. That is giving in to bullies, which of course Putin is.
"And I just think that we in the West need to be a bit more bullish about supporting Ukraine than we currently are."
While Mr Zelensky has announced that he wanted to discuss the US peace plan, alongside other proposals for American security guarantees, Russian diplomats have said the deal was "radically different" from their negotiations with the White House.
The Ukrainian President has offered to withdraw troops from Ukraine's eastern Donbas region if the Kremlin ordered their troops to retreat as well.
On Friday night, civilians were left injured in Kyiv in the latest round of Russian air strikes raining down on the city, the mayor has said.
Around 320,000 of the city's homes have been left powerless after the attacks, Ukrainian officials have said.
"As widespread rescue efforts continue, one woman is already confirmed dead and at least 28 injured," the Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
"These strikes are deliberately aimed at residential buildings and energy infrastructure, timed to a holiday weekend to deepen civilian hardship."
Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky condemned Putin's "sick activity" and for refusing to want the war to end. He further accused them of "trying to use every opportunity to inflict more pain on Ukraine".
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