A senior Tory MP has claimed that Donald Trump could be a “Russian asset” after the US president paused American military aid for Ukraine overnight.

Writing on X on Tuesday morning, former government minister Graham Stuart said: “We have to consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset.

“If so, Trump’s acquisition is the crowning achievement of [Vladimir] Putin’s FSB career – and Europe is on its own.”

The US was Ukraine’s largest single source of military funding in its fight against Putin’s invasion.

But Trump, who is pushing to end the war as soon as possible, chose to temporarily cut that aid off overnight in a bid to force Ukraine to the negotiation table with Russia.

It follows Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claim on Monday that the end of the war is “very, very far away”.

Trump was quick to berate him over that remark, saying: “This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!”

Europe is now left to grapple with the fallout from Trump’s decision, as Ukraine is now entirely dependent on its military aid to protect it from Putin’s land grab.

The move also proves that, less than six weeks into his second term, Trump has already broken away from the West’s pro-Ukraine approach.

The US president has also repeatedly made it plain how his sympathies lie with Putin, not Ukraine, especially when it comes to Kyiv’s ambitions to join Nato.

Last month, Trump said: “Russia has somebody right on their doorstep, and I could understand their feelings about that.”

He has falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war, called Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator” – as the country elections are postponed due to the war – and attacked the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office last week. 

Trump and his vice-president JD Vance claimed Zelenskyy had been ungrateful for the US’s support throughout the war.

The White House also called off the press conference where the two nations were meant to sign an agreement to share Ukraine’s mineral wealth as a repayment for the US’s past military support – a deal Trump claimed would have moved Ukraine closer to ending the war.