BORIS Johnson has insisted Donald Trump’s false claims about Ukraine’s war were intended to “shock Europeans into action” following clashes over a peace deal.
Volodymyr Zelensky accused the US President of being “trapped” in a Russian “disinformation bubble” after the billionaire suggested Ukraine was to blame for Moscow’s invasion of the country.
The Ukrainian president also said he would not “sell” his nation following talks between Russia and the US to broker a peace deal without Ukraine present.
Former Prime Minister Mr Johnson, an ardent supporter of Kyiv, called on Europe to “get serious” about supporting the war-torn country amid two crisis meetings this week in Paris.
He was responding to Mr Trump’s claims that Ukraine started the war and that its president Mr Zelensky’s approval rating stands at 4% so 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%. They are actually about the same as Trump’s.”
As for what action Europe should be taking, Mr Johnson pointed to billions of pounds of frozen Russian assets that “could and should be used to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support”.
Mr Johnson said: “Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action. In particular the US can see $300billion 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.”
Mr Zelensky pushed back on several unfounded claims the US president made on Tuesday, while reinforcing Ukraine’s position that a deal to end the war needed its involvement.
It comes after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks on a possible peace deal in Saudi Arabia, without European or Ukrainian officials.
Mr Trump has made it clear he wants the war to end as soon as possible – even if it means further territorial losses for Ukraine.
Putin said on Wednesday he “has no close relations” with President Trump and that they haven’t seen each other “for a long time”.
But Mr Trump wants to meet him, Putin told reporters in St Petersburg, adding that he would do so “with pleasure”.
There has been speculation that the leaders could meet soon, even before the end of the month.
It came as Ukraine’s leader called Russia’s leadership “pathological liars” after a Russian drone attack in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Zelensky said: “I am protecting Ukraine, I can’t sell it away, I can’t sell our state.
“With all due respect to President Donald Trump, as the leader of a nation that we respect greatly… (he) is living in this disinformation space.”
Mr Trump had said he was “disappointed” that Mr Zelensky had complained about being left out of talks and suggested Kyiv should have been willing to make concessions to Moscow.
“You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” the US president said to reporters.
Former Defence Secretary Sir Ben Wallace said Mr Trump’s statements at his Florida resort were “pure Disney in both sort of facts and reality.”
He added: “I know Mar-a-Lago is quite close to Disney World, but that was pure Disney in both sort of facts and reality.
“I think the Kremlin have been pretty happy since day one. If the White House is repeating those sort of propaganda lines that, you know, Ukraine started the war, etc, then of course they’ll be really happy that people are rewriting history.”
Sir Keir, who proposed deploying UK peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, will scramble to the US next week to meet its President at the White House in Washington where he will try to play a “bridging” role between Europe and the US.
He joined European counterparts and NATO leaders in Paris earlier this week for an emergency summit on a Ukraine peace agreement.
A second crisis meeting was held in the French capital on Wednesday but the UK Prime Minister did not attend.
Instead, Defence Secretary John Healey travelled to meet his Norwegian counterpart.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey insisted Sir Keir challenge Mr Trump on his Ukraine lies.
He said: “When the Prime Minister visits the White House next week, he must challenge Trump on his Ukraine lies in the strongest possible terms.
“It’s incredibly alarming to see the supposed leader of the free world parroting Putin’s propaganda. Trump spoke in Mar-a-Lago but his words could have been written in Moscow.”
Britain will “play our part” in pushing for security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any peace settlement, Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson said.
Asked whether the UK Government will call out Mr Trump’s latest remarks, Dame Diana said: “I’m a minister in the British Government. I’m not commenting on what is coming out of the United States, what the headlines are.
“What I do know is that the Prime Minister is working very hard at the moment to ensure that we play our part in making sure that the security guarantees around any negotiated deal are there.
“The Prime Minister has been to Paris this week to speak to European colleagues. He’s going to America next week to speak to the president.”
