KEIR Starmer has been told to “get back up off his knees” and revoke an offer of a UK state visit to Donald Trump after the US president's extraordinary treatment of Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In a heated clash during a press briefing at the White House, Trump and his second-in-command JD Vance took aim at the Ukrainian leader, saying he should be more grateful for US aid in fighting against Russia’s invasion.
🚨 BREAKING: Donald Trump, JD Vance and President Zelenskyy get into a heated exchange in the Oval Office Vance: "Do you think that it's respectful to come to the Oval Office and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?" pic.twitter.com/B6VKyMMSwk
— Politics US (@PolitlcsUS) February 28, 2025
Trump said that Ukraine was running out of soldiers and did “not have the cards” – while Zelenskyy said they were not playing cards and suggested the US leader was echoing Vladimir Putin’s rhetoric.
Zelenskyy left the meeting, which was cut short, without signing a critical minerals deal with the US that Trump had suggested was a condition for future support for Ukraine.
In a post on social media, Trump claimed that Zelenskyy was not ready for peace and that the Ukrainian leader had “disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office”.
Coming just one day after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met and cosied up to the US president, it has also led to calls for Labour to rescind an offer for Trump to have a state visit to Scotland.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said: “Starmer had better get back up off his knees and revoke that offer of a state visit.”
The Scottish Greens echoed the sentiment, with party co-leader Patrick Harvie saying that “even [Starmer] must see from the scenes this evening what a profound danger that friendship [with Trump] represents”.
“Donald Trump hasn’t changed. He is the same dangerous bully that he was yesterday, and he’s only going to get worse. It is wrong for Starmer and so many others to pretend otherwise,” Harvie said.
“The invitation for a state visit should never have been made in the first place, and it is time for it to be withdrawn.”
First Minister John Swinney also spoke out, saying that the "events in Washington are a clear cause for deep concern, for shock, for anger".
"What we need now are cool heads and clear thinking," the SNP leader went on.
"We must stand firm with our European allies in the steadfast defence of Ukraine. That is where Scotland stands."
Tory MP Alicia Kearns, the former chair of Westminster’s foreign affairs committee, said: “Zelenskyy is fighting for the survival of his people.
“We just witnessed what can only be described as bullying. Performative bullying for a domestic US audience.
“Just watching the video shamed me to my core. Utterly shaming.”
Priti Patel, the Tories’ shadow foreign secretary, gave her party’s “unwavering” support to Zelenskyy. “The Ukrainian people have faced horrors that few of us could imagine and we stand shoulder to shoulder with them today and always,” she said.
United States senator from California Adam Schiff said: “A hero and a coward are meeting in the Oval Office today.
“And when the meeting is over, the hero will return home to Ukraine.”
Across Europe, governments and officials including from the Netherlands, Czechia, Spain, Germany, Latvia, Moldova, Lithuania, Poland, and the EU Commission, among others, expressed their support for Ukraine.
Former Canadian foreign minister Marc Garneau said: “We have just witnessed Trump and Vance bully Zelenskyy – the most disgraceful performance I have ever seen in my life. I am gobsmacked.”
“The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office,” Medvedev said of Zelenskky. “And [Trump] is right: the Kiev regime [sic] is ‘gambling with WWIII’.”
The incident, which has already sent shockwaves across Europe, continues a pattern – which Trump has followed since taking office – of cosying up to dictators and far-right, neo-Nazi politicians while attacking America’s long-standing allies.
The UK Government has been approached for comment. However, Starmer and his Labour ministers have been hesitant to criticise Trump for anything – even his support for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza – due to their ambitions of acting as a bridge between the US and Europe.
