STORY
Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister, has launched an extraordinary attack on Donald Trump, the US President, saying that he has lied about the situation in Ukraine and knows that it is historically inaccurate. Johnson said on X:
“When are we Europeans going to stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war?
Of course Ukraine didn’t start the war. You might as well say that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor.
Of course a country undergoing a violent invasion should not be staging elections. There was no general election in the UK from 1935 to 1945.
Of course Zelenskyy’s ratings are not 4%. They are actually about the same as Trump’s.
Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action.
In particular the US can see $300bn of frozen Russian assets – mainly in Belgium. That is cash that could and should be used to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support.
Why is Europe preventing the unfreezing of Putin’s cash?
The US believes Belgium, France and other countries are blocking. It’s absurd. We need to get serious and fast.”
Trump had earlier said that Zelenskyy’s support in the opinion polls were sitting at around 4%, with Johnson pointing out that the actual figure was the same as Trump’s own popularity.
BBC Verify also backed Johnson’s statements that Trump had lied and gave evidence to show that Trump had made a series of false comments about the situation in Ukraine.