Boris Johnson has said that Donald Trump blaming Ukraine for starting Vladimir Putin’s war was like claiming “America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor”.
The former Prime Minister, a fierce supporter of Ukraine, also rebuffed the US president’s “dictator claim” against Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump’s extraordinary outbursts against Zelensky have stunned European capitals as the new president tears up America’s policy on Ukraine in what appeared to be a move to cosy up to Putin and strike a deal which benefits both the US and Russia.
Both Ukraine and Europe were excluded from peace talks in Saudi Arabia between delegations led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, discussing the war and US-Russia ties.
But it is Trump’s language which has sparked the biggest backlash, even from some supporters of the new US president.
Mr Johnson, who was at Trump’s inauguration in January, said: “Of course Ukraine didn’t start the war. You might as well say that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor.”
Japan launched a surprise strike on the American naval base, Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.
Thousands of American servicemen were killed or injured in the attack, which dealt a major blow to the US Pacific Fleet. Four US battleships were sunk and nearly 200 aircraft destroyed.
President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan the following day and America entered World War II.
Mr Johnson also rebuffed Trump’s “dictator” jibe against Mr Zelensky, saying: “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 Zelensky’s ratings are not 4 per cent. They are actually about the same as Trump’s.”
But Mr Johnson, who played a key role in leading support from the West for Ukraine, argued that Trump’s comments were “not intended to be historically accurate, but to shock Europeans into action”.
The former PM continued: “The US believes Belgium, France and other countries are blocking. It’s absurd. We need to get serious and fast.”
He also asked when Europeans are going to “stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war?”
Mr Zelensky, who accused Trump of living in a “disinformation space”, being fed propaganda by the Kremlin, warned that he would not sell his nation after Russia and the US started talks to broker a peace deal without Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was "false and dangerous" for Trump to call Mr Zelensky a dictator.
Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles said "the war in Ukraine must be resolved on Ukraine's terms, because the aggressor here is Russia".
Britain and France could lead a peace-keeping force of around 30,000 troops, with air power including from the US acting as a ‘backstop’ to stop future Putin aggression if the war is brought to an end.
