Downing Street says the two leaders spoke overnight, after Donald Trump accused the Ukrainian president of being a ‘dictator’.
Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel told viewers of Sky News this morning that she could not comment on the “motivation” of Donald Trump in criticising Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but said that Trump was “wrong”.
Ask what she made of the comments, Patel said:.
First of all, that’s wrong. President Zelenskyy is not a dictator. Let’s just put some context of this. For three years – the third anniversary of the conflict is on Monday – for three years he has led his nation in terms of this conflict, standing up to Putin, Putin’s aggression, and the appalling conduct that we’ve seen.
[Zelenskyy] is fighting for sovereignty and the freedom of his country. And this is a significant conflict in our neighbourhood, effectively on European soil, and this is the most brutal conflict that we’ve seen in Europe since, clearly, the second world war. So here’s a man that’s fighting for sovereignty, freedom, and actually standing up for the rule of law, and many of the values that we all hold very dearly.
I think I said at the weekend too that there is a lot of chatter, there’s a lot of noise. There are no clear solutions right now.
And I think, you know, I say this not just as a member of the Conservative frontbench, but actually as a British politician, having led the support for Ukraine, this is why we must really be quite strong all over again in our support for greater defence and military spending and capability.
I think we need to take the heat down from what has become a very heated conversation in public over recent days. That’s what the prime minister has been doing, meeting with European leaders, speaking to President Zelenskyy. Next week, he’ll travel to the US to meet with President Trump.
The truth is that if we want a solution to what is happening in Ukraine –and we absolutely do, because it’s in British interests to do so, and it’s the right thing to do – then we know in our country from the experience of dealing with very difficult matters on our own shores, that the only way that you reach a solution is to bring all parties around the table, to take the heat down, to have cool heads, and to bring people together for a negotiated solution.
We’ve got our own view as the UK. And our view is that the US matters, Ukraine must be involved in negotiations about Ukraine’s own future, and that Europe matters as well.
And we need to make sure with all parties around the table that our alliance doesn’t fracture. We’re absolutely committed to Nato. We have to hold that coalition together. We have got a real threat here in Vladimir Putin. We have got to work together with our allies in order to make sure that we don’t just win the war and win the peace in Ukraine, but we also make sure that we don’t see the like of this happening again.
The prime minister has made his own view clear. He spoke to president Zelenskyy in the last few days and made clear that he understands, first of all, that he is an elected leader, and we consider him in the United Kingdom to be a legitimate leader.
We do not consider president Zelenskyy to be a dictator. He was elected by the people of Ukraine. And the reason that there haven’t been elections is because of Russian aggression, and that is something that is out with Ukrainian control. We stand with Ukraine, and our belief in that, our support for Ukraine is unshakable.
