Boris Johnson has claimed Donald Trump “has the guts to stand up to Putin”, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
The former prime minister made the startling claim as hopes of a peace deal to end the war Ukraine rose.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had agreed to an American proposal of a 30-day truce in the war, which began more than three years ago.
In return, the US has agreed to reinstate military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
However, it is unclear whether his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will also sign up to the plan.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has appeared to go out of his way to antagonise Zelenskyy – whose country was invaded by Russia in 2022 – and repeat a series of Kremlin talking points.
He accused the Ukrainian president of being a “dictator” for not holding elections in the middle of a war, and suggested that is country may cease to exist if he does not agree a peace deal.
Meanwhile, he has barely criticised Putin at all, despite the fact that he started the conflict.
But appearing on American TV show News Nation, Johnson said: “I’m a believer in President Donald Trump’s ability to get things done.
“When I was foreign secretary I saw how he dealt with Ukraine. This was the guy who gave the Ukrainians the Javelin shoulder-launch anti-tank missiles, indispensable to the Ukrainians in fighting the Russians and getting them out of the Kyiv area.
“I may be proved wrong. I think Donald Trump is the kind of president who has the guts – the guts – to stand up to Putin and say ’look, I’ve put a lot of pressure on the Ukrainians, the whole world has seen the pressure they’ve been under in the last 10 days or so. They’ve moved a long way for peace. Now Putin, it’s your turn.”
Keir Starmer congratulated Trump and Zelenskyy for the “remarkable breakthrough”.
He said: “This is an important moment for peace in Ukraine and we now all need to redouble our efforts to get to a lasting and secure peace as soon as possible.”
