Nigel Farage has said president Volodymyr Zelensky is “not a dictator” as he contradicted comments made by his ally Donald Trump.

The Reform UK leader sought to play down the significance of the US president’s attack on the Ukrainian leader and argued people should not always take the comments made by Mr Trump “absolutely literally”.

Mr Farage’s political opponents had been applying pressure on him to address the remarks made by Mr Trump, which sent shock waves throughout the Nato alliance.

Speaking in Washington, DC on Thursday afternoon, the Reform leader told GB News: “You should always take everything Donald Trump says seriously. You shouldn’t always take things that Donald Trump says absolutely literally.

“I think that applies very much in this case. There is a lot of bad blood between president Trump and previous Ukrainian leaders, the impeachment that happened was all because of a relationship between the Ukrainian government and the Biden family.

“So let’s be clear. Zelensky is not a dictator. But it is only right and proper that Ukrainians have a timeline for elections.”