Boris Johnson attacks Trump over claims Ukraine started war with Putin

Boris Johnson has hit out at Donald Trump’s claims that Ukraine started the war with Russia, as the president came under fire for branding Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator.

The former prime minister said the US president’s statements on Ukraine – which were the latest in a series of controversial interventions by the Trump administration – “are not intended to be historically accurate, but to shock Europeans into action”.

Mr Trump caused outrage when he wrongly claimed Kyiv started the war, as well as claiming the Ukraine president’s approval rating stands at 4 per cent and the country should hold an election.

He later doubled down on the attack, describing Mr Zelensky as a “dictator” and warned he “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left”.

A Downing Street spokesperson said Sir Keir Starmer had called Mr Zelensky on Wednesday evening to express support for him “as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader”.