Western politicians hit back at the US President over his comments and warned he was at risk of repeating Vladimir Putin’s propaganda – although Sir Keir Starmer had not responded as of Wednesday evening.
The Labour Government is looking to enforce message discipline ahead of Starmer’s trip to Washington DC – with its MPs seemingly reluctant to pick a fight publicly with the President.
Ukraine’s scheduled elections have been postponed while the war with Russia continues. Opinion polls in Ukraine suggest that Zelensky remains broadly popular with the country’s population.
Among those responding to Trump’s outburst were Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who said: “President Zelensky is not a dictator. He is the democratically elected leader of Ukraine who bravely stood up to Putin’s illegal invasion.” She insisted that the US leader was “right that Europe needs to pull its weight” and called for Britain to spend more money on defence.
President Zelenskyy is not a dictator. He is the democratically elected leader of Ukraine who bravely stood up to Putin’s illegal invasion. Under my leadership, and under successive Conservative Prime Ministers, we have and always will stand with Ukraine. President Trump is…
— Kemi Badenoch (@KemiBadenoch) February 19, 2025Germany’s ambassador to the UK, Miguel Berger, told Times Radio: “We all know that these are Russian speaking points… So I think we need to keep a cool head on all of that, but also make clear that we don’t share this assessment.”
In response, Defence Secretary John Healey said: “Three years ago, one country illegally invaded another, and since then, the Ukrainians have been fighting for their freedom. They’ve been fighting for their future, and they still are. So whilst all the focus may be on talks, not even negotiations, our concern as defence ministers is that we’re not jeopardising the peace by forgetting about the war.”
There was also a backlash to Trump from within his own Republican party – his former Vice President, Mike Pence, said: “Ukraine did not ‘start’ this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives.”
Western officials said on Wednesday that they would want the US to station air power in neighbouring countries to ensure that Russia faces a swift response if it attempts to restart the fighting.
A peacekeeping force to be based within Ukraine, likely to be led by the UK and France, would involve fewer than 30,000 troops who would guard key infrastructure points such as ports, rather than attempting to secure the entire length of the border.
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