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.
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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 BIden 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.”
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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%.”
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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.