Prime Minister Keir Starmer has backed Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “Ukraine’s democratically elected leader” after Donald Trump claimed he was a “dictator” who was doing a “terrible job”.
In a phone call with the Ukrainian president, Starmer said it was “perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War Two”, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.
The call followed a war of words between Trump and Zelenskyy, with the Ukrainian president saying Trump lived in a “disinformation space” after he criticised him for postponing elections and falsely claiming Ukraine started the war with Russia.
Zelenskyy was elected as president of Ukraine in May 2019, with election previously scheduled to take place in 2024.
However, Ukraine is currently under martial law, meaning elections are suspended.
In a lengthy post shared on Truth Social and X, Trump said Zelenskyy had refused to hold elections in Ukraine and accused him of being a “dictator without elections”.
The US president went on to say: “Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a country left.”
He also touted his administration’s recent negotiations with Russia saying: “We are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP’, and the Trump Administration, can do.”
Trump repeated his Truth Social comments at a Saudi-backed event in Miami on Wednesday night calling Zelenskyy, “A dictator without elections, Zelenskyy better move fast, or he’s not going to have a country left”.
Trump went on to suggest Zelenskyy should have turned up uninvited to Saudi Arabia for the US-Russia talks and said, “There’s never been even meetings or phone calls to stop this war.”
He added: “I love Ukraine. But Zelenskyy has done a terrible job. His country is shattered and millions and millions of people have unnecessarily died.
“And you can’t bring a war to an end if you don’t talk to both sides. You got to talk. They haven’t been talking for three years.”
Trump has been making similar comments for days.
Earlier on Wednesday, Zelenskyy accused the US president of “living in a disinformation space” a day after Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war with Russia.
Speaking at a press conference, the Ukrainian president pushed back on several unfounded claims Trump made on Tuesday.
Trump said that Zelenskyy’s rating stood at 4% and suggested he was open to pushing for new elections in Ukraine. Trump has not said where he got this figure.
Responding to Trump’s earlier claims, Zelenskyy said they have “seen this disinformation” and understand “that it is coming from Russia”.
He continued: “Unfortunately, President Trump – I have great respect for him as a leader of a nation that we have great respect for, the American people who always support us – unfortunately lives in this disinformation space.”
The comments from Trump and Zelenskyy were a remarkable back-and-forth between leaders of two countries that have been staunch allies in recent years under Trump’s predecessor, as the US provided crucial military equipment to Kyiv to fend off the invasion and used its political weight to defend Ukraine and isolate Russia on the world stage.
Next week, Starmer is expected to travel to Washington for talks with Trump, including on Ukraine and European security, with French President Emmanuel Macron reported to be heading to the White House in the same week.
It will be his first meeting with Trump since his inauguration as US president in January, and will see the UK attempt to balance its support for Ukraine with the need to keep the White House onside.
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