Fury as Nigel Farage manufacturers Putin ‘intelligent’ and says Ukraine ought to negotiate

Nigel Farage has sparked fury after saying Ukraine should negotiate with “clever political operator” Vladimir Putin.

The Reform UK leader said he would advise President Volodymyr Zelensky to get round a table with the Russian despot to avoid. Mr Farage made the remarks when quizzed by the BBC’s Nicky Campbell about his previous statements about Putin.

Back in 2014, when asked what world leader he most admires, Mr Farage said: “As an operator, but not as a human being, I would say Putin.” Today Mr Campbell asked him to clarify his remarks about the Russian President, who he branded a “murderous dictator”. The Reform UK leader said: “”How many years has he been in power? You know, he’s he’s gone from Prime Minister to President, he’s a clever political operator.”

Reminded by Mr Campbell that Putin kills journalists, Mr Farage went on: “He kills journalists. I said I didn’t like him as a human being in any way at all. You can recognise the fact that some people are good at what they do, even if they have evil intent.”

Asked if Adolf Hitler was good at what he did, Mr Farage responded: “What, as a public speaker, what do you think? Clearly hypnotic in a very dangerous way.”

Mr Farage then went on to say that he thought the Ukrainians should hold negotiations with Putin – even though this would likely mean losing territory. He said: “Look, this war has been going on now for years. It is likely to go on for many, many more years. We’re looking at something like a million casualties between the two sides fighting for the country.”

And he continued: “I’m not saying we shouldn’t support Ukraine at all. Not for one minute. But at the end of the day, most wars end in negotiation. And I fear if we don’t find some way of at least sitting down and talking, that we’re going to finish up with a war that goes on for years.”

Mr Farage admitted that the “big difficulty” would be Crimea, which Russia illegally seized a decade ago. Revealing what his advice would be to the Ukrainian President he said: “I’d say to Zelensky, look, the West have been supporting you, they will go on supporting you, but the percentage of your young manhood that you’re losing is so bad. Isn’t it time we at least tried to have a negotiation? He couldn’t say no.”

It comes as Putin claimed he is being pushed to “the point of no return” over starting a nuclear war. He accused NATO leaders of “extreme recklessness” and claimed that further actions taken by the West could “lead to tragedy”.

The Russian President said: “We have come unacceptably close to the point of no return.

“Calls to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, which possesses the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons demonstrate the extreme recklessness of Western politicians. They either do not understand the scale of the threat they are creating – or are simply obsessed with their own sense of impunity and exceptionalism. Both can lead to tragedy.”