Britain and its European allies have pledged billions more pounds of aid to Ukraine in defiance of US President Donald Trump's “bonkers” tirade against Kyiv’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
The UK will plough an extra £1.5billion into “keeping Ukraine in the fight” until a peace deal can be settled with Russia, after Trump tore into Zelensky, branding him a “dictator”.
Earlier London Mayor Sadiq Khan branded Trump's latest treacherous moves “bonkers” and former UK defence secretary Ben Wallace tore into the US leader for blaming Ukraine for the war.
Western officials told the Mirror this year the UK will hand £4.5bn to Ukraine, having supported it with £3bn a-year throughout three years of ferocious warfare. Much of the boosted funding to "keep Ukraine in the fight until they get peace," will come from unfrozen Russian assets and is aimed at offering Ukraine "peace through strength," the Mirror has been told.
And despite Trump appearing to ditch Kyiv, officials told the Mirror ex-US President Joe Biden’s donation of more than £2bn before he left had given Ukraine vital breathing space for war.
It came after Trump unleashed a volley of insults at Zelensky, claiming he had “played Boden like a fiddle,” after an astonishing 24 hours in which the US appeared to sideline Ukraine. Trump’s aides went to Saudi Arabia, denying Zelensky a seat at the table, for peace talks with Russia and Trump even appeared to blame the Kyiv President for the war.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and Trump will never be able to settle.”
Trump added: “'On top of this, Zelenskyy admits that half of the money we sent him is missing. He refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls, and the only thing he was good at was playing Biden “like a fiddle.”
He went on to call Zelensky a "dictator without elections", even though earlier Ukraine officials had told the Mirror this was “lies”.
One official told the Mirror: “Trump says our President’s polls are at 4% - it is not true. Only today they were at 57% and have been consistently more than 50%.”
Ex-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace ridiculed Donald Trump after he blamed Ukraine for Russia's invasion. The former Tory minister’s comments came as European leaders scrambled to respond to the US President's sinister rant during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago retreat.
Mr Wallace said: “I know Mar-a-Largo is quite close to Disney World, but that was pure Disney in both sort of facts and reality." He told LBC he believed the Kremlin "have been quite happy since day one" with the White House repeating "propaganda lies" that Ukraine started the war.
On a visit to Norway, Defence Secretary John Healey warned that forgetting about the war while talks take place between the US and Russia risks "jeopardising the peace". Asked for the UK's response to Mr Trump's assertion that Ukraine "started it", Mr Healey told reporters: "Three years ago, one country illegally invaded another, and since then, the Ukrainians have been fighting for their freedom.
"They've been fighting for their future, and they still are. So whilst all the focus may be on talks, not even negotiations, our concern as defence ministers is that we're not jeopardising the peace by forgetting about the war."
Speaking alongside his Norwegian counterpart Tore Sandvik near the town of Kirkenes in the Arctic Circle, Mr Healey added: "Our job as defence ministers is to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position going into any talks, and that means continuing to step up the military aid that we in Europe - alongside, we argue, the States - (maintain) because the maximum pressure on Putin is going to mean the maximum chance that he will negotiate seriously."
Irish deputy premier Simon Harris also lashed out at the US President's remarks, saying blaming Kyiv for Moscow's invasion was "revisionism on speed". He told RTE's News At One: "I think anyone who attempts to blame Ukraine is clearly engaging in revisionism on speed,
"The reality here is there's only been one aggressor in relation to this brutal, illegal invasion and that is Vladimir Putin, who took a decision to invade a peaceful neighbouring country on the continent of Europe."
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch also contradicted the US President on X. She posted: "President Zelenskyy is not a dictator. 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." But she added that the US President is right that Europe and the UK "needs to pull its weight" and hike defence spending.
The Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey also said: "Calling Zelenskyy a 'dictator' must be where the line is drawn. It is my sincere hope that the whole political spectrum in the United Kingdom will speak with one voice in opposition to Trump's lies."
But ex-PM Boris Johnson asked when Europeans will "stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war?" In a message posted on X, Mr Johnson said: "Of course Ukraine didn't start the war. You might as well say that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor."