{"id":127206,"date":"2025-02-20T11:35:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T11:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-live-trump-condemned-for-parroting-murderous-putin-and-calling-zelensky-dictator-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2025-02-20T11:35:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T11:35:41","slug":"ukraine-russia-war-live-trump-condemned-for-parroting-murderous-putin-and-calling-zelensky-dictator-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/ukraine-russia-war-live-trump-condemned-for-parroting-murderous-putin-and-calling-zelensky-dictator-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine-Russia war live: Trump condemned for parroting \u2018murderous\u2019 Putin and calling Zelensky \u2018dictator\u2019 – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Trump claims Zelensky is a dictator and Ukraine could soon cease to be a country
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Donald Trump<\/a> has been strongly criticised by Ukraine<\/a>\u2019s allies for repeating Moscow<\/a>\u2019s claims about Volodymyr Zelensky<\/a> as the US president tries to force a peace deal on Kyiv<\/a>.
Mr Trump claimed on Wednesday<\/a> that the Ukrainian president was \u201ca dictator without elections\u201d and warned him to move fast \u201cor he is not going to have a country left\u201d.
In the UK, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> has reiterated his support<\/a> for the \u201cdemocratically-elected\u201d Mr Zelensky and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime as the UK did during the second World War, after opposition politicians expressed alarm at seeing Mr Trump \u201cparroting Putin\u2019s propaganda\u201d.
Australia\u2019s defence minister Richard Marles called for the war to be negotiated on Ukraine\u2019s terms, warning that \u201cthe integrity of the [global rules\u2011based order\u201d is at stake. \u201cVladimir Putin<\/a> is a murderous dictator, and we shouldn\u2019t be giving him an inch,” said Peter Dutton, the leader of the Liberal opposition party.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that it was monitoring statements by Sir Keir with concern, and insisted that any British plan to send troops to Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping mission would be unacceptable. to Moscow given the UK\u2019s status as a Nato member.<\/a><\/a>
Italy\u2019s foreign minister has warned that that the security of Europe and Ukraine can be guaranteed only if the United States maintains its presence in the region.
\u201cI’m absolutely convinced that the security of Ukraine and Europe cannot be guaranteed without the United States,\u201d Antonio Tajani told a press conference in Rome.
Sir Keir Starmer will reportedly present US president Donald Trump with a peacekeeping plan to send fewer than 30,000 European troops to Ukraine when he flies to Washington, DC next week.
The \u201creassurance force\u201d, an Anglo-French strategy designed by British and French officials, was presented at an emergency meeting in Paris earlier this week, according to The Telegraph<\/em>.
Sir Keir will detail the plan to Mr Trump during his first official visit to the White House since the president\u2019s election, the Telegraph<\/em> reported, adding that he will push for US fighter jets and missiles to remain on standby in eastern Europe to deter Russian forces from breaching any agreed terms.
My colleague <\/em>Alex Croft<\/em><\/strong> reports:<\/em>
Six in 10 British voters believe it is likely that Russia will attack other European countries in the next 10 years, according to polling by YouGov.
Nearly eight in 10 of those surveyed said it was unacceptable for Ukraine not to be included in peace negotiations, with the majority believing it to be likely to the US and Russia will agree a peace deal in the next few months.
Nearly three quarters expect such a deal to leave Russia in possession of conquered territory \u2013 an outcome that 55 per cent of those polled said they would feel negatively about.
A former Tory MP who has joined Ukraine\u2019s foreign legion<\/a> has said that he would shoot a Russian soldier as part of his duties, my colleague <\/em>Lucy Leeson<\/em><\/strong> reports<\/em><\/a>.
Jack Lopresti, a former deputy chair of the Conservative Party, was previously the MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke in Gloucestershire, but is now based in Kyiv using his skills in the ongoing war.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain<\/em> on Thursday (20 February), Mr Lopresti was asked whether he would shoot a Russian solider, if needed to. He told presenter Richard Madeley: \u201cOf course, I would … I would do whatever I can to help Ukraine.\u201d
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has said he plans to travel to Ukraine on Monday to support president Volodymyr Zelensky.
In an apparent riposte to Donald Trump\u2019s false characterisation of Mr Zelensky as a \u201cdictator\u201d \u2013 one which echoes the Kremlin\u2019s propaganda \u2013 Mr Sanchez wrote on social media: \u201cI’ll be in Kyiv on Monday to reaffirm Spain’s support for the Ukrainian democracy and President Zelensky.”
The risk of war in Europe is the highest it has ever been since the end of the Second World War, France\u2019s prime minister Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou has warned.
\u201cNever since 1945 has the risk of war in Europe been so high,\u201d Mr Bayrou was quoted by local outlets as saying, as France\u2019s president Emmanuel held his third meeting in a week over Ukraine.
The French president is convening a meeting of French political leaders to discuss Ukraine this morning, following two separate emergency meetings with European leaders on Monday and Wednesday, called in the wake of Donald Trump\u2019s moves to open discussions with Russia without including Kyiv.
Mr Macron, who is also expected to visit Washington next week, said: \u201cWe stand with Ukraine and will take full responsibility to ensure peace and security in Europe. This is the fundamental interest of France …We are convinced of the need to increase our defence and security spending and capabilities for Europe and each of our countries.\u201d
As Sir Keir Starmer prepares for a crunch trip to visit Donald Trump in Washington, two of his top ministers are expected to spend Thursday in talks with other allies.
Defence secretary John Healey will continue his visit to Norway, where he has already met troops near the Russian border alongside his Norwegian counterpart Tore Sandvik.
In South Africa, foreign secretary David Lammy is attending a two-day meeting of G20 foreign ministers and is expected to directly criticise the Kremlin and emphasise the UK’s unwavering support for Ukraine, as well as addressing other areas.
Ahead of the meeting, Mr Lammy said: \u201cAt this precarious geopolitical moment, we must work with the widest possible coalition of countries to stand up for Ukraine, build stability in the Middle East and act urgently on Sudan and the DRC.\u201d
Our political correspondent <\/em>Millie Cooke<\/em><\/strong> reports:<\/em>
Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, has dodged questions about Donald Trump\u2019s claim that Volodomyr Zelensky is a dictator, saying his latest speech was \u201cvery interesting\u201d.
It came after Mr Trump doubled down on his claim that the Ukrainian president is a \u201cdictator without elections\u201d in a speech on Wednesday evening in Miami.
Asked about the president\u2019s Miami address, the US ambassador told Sky News that he is \u201clooking forward\u201d to Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to the White House next week \u2013 but refused to comment on the \u201cdictator\u201d claims.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz has stressed the importance of keeping the path open for Ukraine to join the European Union and rejected suggestions that the country was to blame for its invasion by Russia.
Asked whether he shared Donald Trump’s view \u2013 echoing claims by Vladimir Putin \u2013 that Ukraine was to blame for Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion, Mr Scholz told public broadcaster ARD: \u201cIt is not. We in Europe insist on this.\u201d
For this reason, he said, the EU was keeping the door open to Ukraine as a prospective member, adding: \u201cUkraine must not be hindered in its decision to be a democratic, sovereign nation on its way into Europe.\u201d
In the case of a future peace settlement, Mr Scholz \u2013 who is not expected to emerge victorious in Germany\u2019s elections this week<\/a> \u2013 said Ukraine must have a strong army, \u201cfor which we in Europe and our international and transatlantic partners share responsibility\u201d.
Ukraine\u2019s military claims to have inflicted a further 1,190 casualties upon Vladimir Putin\u2019s forces over the past 24 hours, as it reported another heavy day of fighting on the front line.
A total of 122 combat clashes were recorded over the past day, with Russia conducting 87 air strikes, firing close to 6,000 artillery shells and deploying more than 3,000 kamikaze drones, according to the general staff of Ukraine\u2019s armed forces.
As expected, the most intense fighting came in Donetsk, with Ukraine\u2019s military chiefs claiming to have stopped 32 Russian attacks in the direction of Pokrovsk, the key city at the heart of Russia\u2019s current offensive aims.
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Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inTrump claims Zelensky is a dictator and Ukraine could soon cease to be a country From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}