Boris Johnson has slammed Donald Trump’s claims that Ukraine started the war with Russia.
The former prime minister – who is pro-Ukraine and anti-EU – suggested Mr Trump’s comments were “not intended to be historically accurate” and were instead meant to “shock Europeans into action”.
He was responding to the US President’s claims that Kyiv started the war and that Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s approval rating stands at 4% and the country should hold an election.
Mr Johnson said: “When are we Europeans going to stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war? Of course Ukraine didn’t start the war. You might as well say that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor.
“Of course a country undergoing a violent invasion should not be staging elections. There was no general election in the UK from 1935 to 1945. Of course Zelenskyy’s ratings are not 4%.”
As for what action Europe should be taking, Johnson pointed to $300bn of frozen Russian assets, located mainly in Belgium, that “could and should be used to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support”.
Mr Johnson said:”They are actually about the same as Trump’s. Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action. In particular the US can see $300bn of frozen Russian assets – mainly in Belgium.
“That is cash that could and should be used to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support. Why is Europe preventing the unfreezing of Putin’s cash? The US believes Belgium, France and other countries are blocking. It’s absurd. We need to get serious and fast.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who will visit Washington next week, has urged America to provide a “backstop” to any settlement brokered between Kyiv and Moscow.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump said the US does not “need” to deploy peacekeeping troops and suggested Ukraine “should never have started” the war.
