British voters want the UK to stand up to Donald Trump and criticise his actions after the US president launched a bizarre attack on Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
A snap poll found 50% believe it is in the UK’s interest to “stand up” to Mr Trump, with 30% saying we should refrain from criticism.
The survey was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday. Mr Trump attacked Mr Zelensky as a “modestly successful comedian” who had done a “terrible job”.
In a rant on social media platform Truth Social, Mr Trump referred to himself in the third person using capital letters, claiming: “Volodymyr Zelensky, talked the United States of America into spending $350billion to go into a war that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a war that he, without the US and ‘TRUMP’, will never be able to settle.”
Donald Trump’s claims about the war in Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelensky fact-checked
Claim: “Ukraine should have never started the war”
Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday, February 19, that President Volodymyr Zelensky had three years to end the war in Eastern Europe, and seemingly blamed Ukraine for starting the conflict.
His suggestion, however, is false. Russia launched an unprovoked invasion against Ukraine in February 2022 with the stated aim of “demilitarising and denazifying” Zelensky’s government and preventing it from joining NATO. Zelensky repeatedly offered to meet Putin before the conflict broke out, and Ukrainian and Russian negotiators held talks in the initial weeks after the invasion. However, Russia’s demands – including a partial demilitarisation of Ukraine – were deemed unreasonable.
Claim: “Volodymyr Zelensky’s low approval rate”
Donald Trump has claimed that the Ukrainian President has an approval rating in his country of just 4%.
This isn’t true. A telephone survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in February found that around 57% of Ukrainians said they trusted their leader, up from 52% in December. While it signals a drop in popularity from 77% in late 2023, it is nowhere near as drastic as suggested by Mr Trump.
Claim: “Volodymyr Zelensky is a ‘dictator’ because he didn’t call for an election”
Donald Trump has suggested that Ukraine’s failure to hold a presidential election since 2019 means Volodymyr Zelensky is a “dictator”.
This isn’t true. Zelensky has had more than the standard five years in power, but only because Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia’s invasion in 2022, meaning all elections are suspended. The Ukrainian President has said he will hold an election when the war is over, and experts have said holding one before would be nearly impossible. Moreover, parties in Ukraine have agreed on not holding a vote until the illegal invasion continues.
Mr Trump claimed Mr Zelensky “refuses to hold elections”. The last presidential elections in Ukraine were in 2019 and a vote was postponed last year because the country was under martial law. The UK also postponed a general election during World War 2.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump falsely claimed Ukraine had started the war, which began when Russia launched an unprovoked invasion on February 24 2022.
Mr Zelensky repeatedly offered to meet his Russian counterpart. Five days before Russian troops crossed the border, he told the Russians: “We are ready to sit down and speak. Pick the platform that you like.”
Representatives of the US and Russia met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to decide Ukraine’s fate – without Ukraine or America’s European allies being involved.
An overwhelming majority, 67%, say the UK is right to support Ukraine in its attempts to repel a Russian invasion, although many think our support will make no difference to the eventual outcome.
The survey by Times Radio found opinion in the UK is divided along party lines, with Labour and Liberal Democrats voters strongly in favour of standing up to Mr Trump. Conservative voters are narrowly in favour and Reform voters are against.
Sir Keir Starmer confirmed his continued support for Mr Zelensky and telephoned Ukraine’s leader on Wednesday.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The Prime Minister expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the UK did during World War 2.
“The Prime Minister reiterated his support for the US-led efforts to get a lasting peace in Ukraine that deterred Russia from any future aggression.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch also reiterated support for Mr Zelensky. She said: “President Zelensky is not a dictator. He is the democratically elected leader of Ukraine who bravely stood up to Putin’s illegal invasion.
“Under my leadership, and under successive Conservative Prime Ministers, we have and always will stand with Ukraine.
“President Trump is right that Europe needs to pull its weight – and that includes the UK.
“We need to get serious.
“The PM will have my support to increase defence spending – there is a fully funded plan to get to 2.5% sitting on his desk.
“That should be the bare minimum. Starmer should get on with it, get on a plane to Washington and show some leadership. We cannot afford to get this wrong.”
