British Prime Minister Keir Starmer defends Zelensky from Trump's 'dictator' smear

Feb. 20 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterated his backing for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after U.S. President Donald Trump accused Zelensky of being a dictator who lacked a democratic mandate and was deeply unpopular with the people of Ukraine.

Starmer spoke with Zelensky on Wednesday night in a phone call in which he expressed his support for his embattled counterpart "as Ukraine's democratically leader" and stressed the need for all sides to work together, Downing Street said in a statement.

The prime minister also pushed back on Trump's criticism of the fact Zelensky had postponed elections due last May and stayed in office beyond his five-year term, saying it was "perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime as the United Kingdom did during World War II."

The Conservative Party won the 1935 general election but the next election, scheduled to be held by November 1940 at the latest, was suspended due to the outbreak of war in September 1939 with the country ruled by a wartime unity government -- famously led by Winston Churchill -- and no elections were held until July 1945, after the end of the war in Europe.

The war in the Pacific ended in August 1945.

However, Starmer, who is due to fly to Washington next week for his first in-person meeting with Trump since he re-entered the White House last month also expressed support for the Trump administration's work to secure "a lasting peace in Ukraine that deterred Russia from any future aggression."

On Sunday, responding to U.S. pressure for Europe to take a larger share of the burden of guaranteeing security in a post-war Ukraine and of the continent, Starmer said Britain was "ready and willing" to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine as part of a European peacekeeping force.

Following emergency meetings of European leaders on Monday and Wednesday after they were left out of U.S.-Russia peace talks in Saudi Arabia, U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz announced Wednesday that Starmer had been invited to the White House early next week, along with French President Emmanuel Marcron, to discuss the war in Ukraine.

U.S.-Ukraine ties took a turn for the worse Wednesday after Trump and Zelensky, who has expressed frustration at being excluded from talks on the future of his country, traded barbs.

Trump called Zelensky a "dictator without elections" who was likely motivated by wanting to keep "the [$350 billion U.S.] gravy train going," in a post on his Truth Social platform.

That prompted a retort from Zelensky, accusing Trump of living in "a disinformation space" concocted by Russia.

Trump's "dictator" accusation also drew criticism from other European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said it was "simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelensky his democratic legitimacy," and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.