Nigel Farage has sought to distance himself from Donald Trump’s approach to ceasefire negotiations in Ukraine, saying he “would not be 100 per cent… where his team is”.
The comment comes in a week in which the US appeared to signal an intention to ease sanctions on Russia amid ongoing attempts to secure a ceasefire.
Vladimir Putin has so far refused to follow Ukraine’s lead by signing up to an unconditional 30-day truce while the terms of a full ceasefire are thrashed out. Instead, Putin has continually set out a list of demands that he insists must be met before he agrees to call off attacks.
Reports have also suggested that the US is pushing for a new deal with Kyiv that would give the United States control over Ukrainian minerals and energy assets.
The Reform UK leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s quite right to aim for peace, but we can’t have a peace that turns Putin into a winner, so I would not be 100 per cent with where his team is right now, absolutely not.”
***Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.***
Challenged over previous comments in which he had appeared to say Nato and Ukraine had provoked Russia’s invasion, he said: “There’s no point looking back then, we are where we are now.
“We want a peace deal, surely everybody wants a peace deal, but it needs to be equitable. Right at the moment, it appears Russia is getting far too much.
“At the moment, that’s the way it looks. Now there may be things going on behind the scenes on the Russian side that we don’t know, but at the moment that’s the worry.”
He added: “There may be things going on behind the scenes on the Russian side that we don’t know, but at the moment that’s the worry.”
The Ukraine war continues to prove a difficult issue for Farage, who previously accused the West of provoking the Russian invasion.
Earlier this month, in the wake of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Trump’s now-infamous White House meeting, Farage suggested the Ukrainian president had been “rude” and “very unwise”.
Said meeting culminated in intense public shouting match as Trump rowed in behind the comments issued by his vice president, JD Vance, who claimed that Ukraine should be more “thankful” for US support.
In a post to X at the time, the Reform UK leader said that the row was “regrettable” and warned that the fallout will leave Putin “feeling like the winner”.
In a subsequent interview, Farage was asked if he would treat a guest as Trump did. He responded: “I wouldn’t expect a guest to be rude to me in my own house, absolutely not. I would expect a guest to treat me with respect.”
He also criticised Zelenskyy for not wearing a suit for his White House visit, and said he showed “no respect” to Trump through his choice of clothing.
Farage’s stance has drawn fire from across the political spectrum, with prime minister Keir Starmer having repeatedly urged the Reform leader to cease his “fawning” over Vladimir Putin.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the latest news and analysis.
Source: Politics