Mick Lynch hits out at Grant Shapps during BBC interview

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The leader of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), which sparked travel chaos for millions of Britons in recent weeks, had earlier been accused of “spreading Kremlin propaganda” for the remarks by transport secretary Grant Shapps. Now Ukraine has taken aim at Mr Lynch, with Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s infrastructure secretary, telling the Mail he had lost his “connection with reality”.

Mr Lynch told The New Statesman that “there were a lot of corrupt politicians in Ukraine”.

He added: “there were an awful lot of people playing with Nazi imagery and going back to the [Second World] War and all that. So, it’s not just that this stuff has sprung from one place”.

He added that “the EU also provoked a lot of trouble in Ukraine”, saying the Maidan uprising in 2014 was “all about being pro-EU”.

Speaking to the Second Captains programme, he said that when he joined the union he had initially aimed to keep a low profile, but that “the gift of the gab took over” and he began recruiting more people to the RMT in reaction to railways being privatised. Mr Kubrakov added that Mr Lynch should be expressing solidarity with murdered Ukrainian rail workers.

The Ukrainian official emphasised that these workers have helped millions of refugees escape Russian invaders.

He said: “This is absolutely the Russian narrative. In Russia they have the same rhetoric, they have the same messages. It’s disappointing to hear such thoughts and ideas from the man representing Britain’s rail community, because our people, our workers on our railway, they are heroes.

“Even yesterday, some of our railway workers and employees were killed by Russian attacks and many more were injured, and instead he [Mr Lynch] should be showing solidarity with them.”

Mr Lynch denied repeating Kremlin propaganda.

He responded to the Mail: “I completely condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Putin is abominable. I think Russia should immediately cease fire and withdraw from Ukraine.”

Mr Shapps also blasted Mr Lync, saying: “Mick Lynch should stop parroting Russian propaganda and join the British people in actually supporting Ukrainians.”

A new deal between Britain and Ukraine will see the UK share its expertise to help the country rebuild infrastructure.

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The £10million package brings Britain’s total support for Ukraine to £4billion.

Mick Whelan, head of the train drivers’ union Aslef, also came under fire from Mr Shapps when he defended the unions’ industrial action.

He told the BBC: “We are virtually in what was happening in Germany, Spain and Italy in the mid-Thirties where you removed the right to strike, removed the right to protest, removed the right to complain, you challenged lawyers, you threatened union leaders. We are very much moving into a world I don’t think we want to be in.”

Mr Shapps responded: “Between Mick Lynch’s peddling of Kremlin propaganda and Mick Whelan’s absurd and offensive comments, the union mask has well and truly slipped.”

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