We must not jeopardise peace, Healey says after Trump blames Ukraine for war

The Defence Secretary has warned that forgetting about the war in Ukraine while talks take place between the US and Russia risks “jeopardising the peace” as he countered Donald Trump’s claim that Kyiv started the conflict.

John Healey urged allies to heap “maximum pressure” on Vladimir Putin to force him to approach any negotiations seriously after Washington and Moscow met for discussions on brokering a settlement.

It comes as Europe reels from the US president blaming Ukraine for the war and criticising the country’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, for complaining that Kyiv has been excluded from negotiations about its own future.

Asked for the UK’s response to Mr Trump’s assertion that Ukraine “started it”, Mr Healey told reporters on a visit to Norway, near its border with Russia: “Three years ago, one country illegally invaded another, and since then, the Ukrainians have been fighting for their freedom.

“They’ve been fighting for their future, and they still are. So whilst all the focus may be on talks, not even negotiations, our concern as defence ministers is that we’re not jeopardising the peace by forgetting about the war.”

Speaking alongside his Norwegian counterpart Tore Sandvik near the town of Kirkenes in the Arctic Circle, Mr Healey added: “Our job as defence ministers is to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position going into any talks, and that means continuing to step up the military aid that we in Europe – alongside, we argue, the States – (maintain) because the maximum pressure on Putin is going to mean the maximum chance that he will negotiate seriously.”

Mr Trump said he was “disappointed” that Mr Zelensky had complained about being left out of talks and suggested Kyiv should have been willing to make concessions to Moscow.

“You should have never started it. You could have made a deal,” the US president said on Tuesday.

Responding at a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Zelensky said Mr Trump is living in a “disinformation space” created by the Kremlin, which has repeatedly sought to blame Kyiv for the war.

“I am protecting Ukraine, I can’t sell it away, I can’t sell our state,” he told reporters in Kyiv on Wednesday.

“With all due respect to President Donald Trump, as the leader of a nation that we respect greatly… (he) is living in this disinformation space.”

Mr Trump then responded on social media by branding the Ukrainian president “a modestly successful comedian and a “dictator without elections”.

Mr Trump wrote: “I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and millions have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…”

Mr Healey flew to meet his Norwegian counterpart as Europe scrambles to respond to the turmoil over the future of Ukraine and what it could mean for wider continental security.

Sir Keir Starmer earlier this week urged Mr Trump to provide a “backstop” to any settlement between Kyiv and Moscow, and on a visit to Washington next week he is expected to make the case for US security guarantees on any peace deal.

The Prime Minister has committed to consider sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, but Mr Trump said on Tuesday that the US would not “have to” deploy soldiers to monitor a possible ceasefire.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson, who was in office when the war began, claimed Mr Trump’s statements are “not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action”.

He asked when Europeans will “stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end this war?”

In a message posted on X, Mr Johnson said: “Of course Ukraine didn’t start the war. You might as well say that America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor.

“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%. They are actually about the same as Trump’s.”

Mr Johnson later added: “The US believes Belgium, France and other countries are blocking. It’s absurd. We need to get serious and fast.”

Washington and Moscow started talks earlier this week to broker a peace in Ukraine, led by US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

Ukraine was not invited to the negotiations, which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and concluded with ground rules for further diplomacy. European countries were also locked out of the talks.

Sir Ben Wallace – who was defence secretary under Mr Johnson – suggested the talks may have been a waste of time.

He posted on X: “I think what President Trump is learning is that if you have no skin in the game you don’t get to decide the fate of Ukraine. I am sure they all enjoyed their 4 hour talks today but they probably shouldn’t have wasted their time.”

Sir John Whittingdale, who sits on the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, described Mr Trump’s comments as “very disappointing and extremely worrying”.

The Conservative former minister told the PA news agency: “They portray such a complete misunderstanding of how this war came about and if that is the stance he is going to take in the negotiations taking place with Putin then I’m filled with anxiety that this may result in a complete sellout of Ukraine.

“If that is his position going forward into those talks, then he’s already conceded to Putin half of what Putin wants.”