Keir Starmer has rejected Donald Trump’s characterisation of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a “dictator”.
The UK prime minister dismissed the claim by the US president in a call with his Ukrainian counterpart on Wednesday evening.
According to a Downing Street readout of that conversation, Starmer told Zelenskyy it was “perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime as the UK did during World War Two”.
Earlier this week, Trump issued the baseless claim that Ukraine started the current conflict with Russia, before stating Zelenskyy has an approval rating of 4 per cent.
In response, Zelenskyy accused the US president of living in a “disinformation space” created by Russian propaganda.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister spoke to president Zelensky this evening and stressed the need for everyone to work together.
“The prime minister expressed his support for president Zelensky as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime as the UK did during World War Two.”
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Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, also rejected Trump’s comments on Wednesday. In a statement posted to X, she insisted “president Zelenskyy is not a dictator.”
She added: “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.”
The row comes as the prime minister prepares to head to Washington next week for his first meeting with Trump since his inauguration in January.
Downing Street noted that in his phone call with Zelenskyy, Starmer had “reiterated his support for the US-led efforts to get a lasting peace in Ukraine that deterred Russia from any future aggression.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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