The prime minister spoke to Zelensky on the phone and expressed support for "Ukraine's democratically elected leader".

Summary

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “democratically elected leader” after Donald Trump called him a “dictator” for suspending elections during the war.

Starmer, who spoke with Zelensky, supported Ukraine’s decision, comparing it to the UK’s actions during World War II.

The controversy comes ahead of Starmer’s meeting with Trump, where he plans to push for a US security “backstop” for Ukraine.

Trump’s remarks have sparked criticism, while Russia continues to dismiss potential peace deals without Ukrainian elections.

    • @[email protected]English
      20•1 day ago

      I wish them luck as an American. Our government is now compromised by fascists.

      …we will fight them when push comes to shove, but I do not not know if we will win.

      • @MalidakEnglish
        28•1 day ago

        push already came to shove, and nobody fought. I don’t have much hope American Opposition to do anything.

    • FenrirIIIEnglish
      30•1 day ago

      As much as I fucking hate what’s happening to my country (USA), I am glad Europe is waking up and taking charge

      • @[email protected]English
        35•1 day ago

        I am too, but holy fuck do I wish that literally anyone tried to make a plan for this contingency ahead of time. It really feels like everyone is scrambling to respond, both domestically and internationally.

        Edit: the only “success” story I’ve seen so far was out of Japan, where the PM reportedly extensively wargamed dealing with and playing Trump, and it seemed to have gotten the country a favorable deal. Just shocked it seems like nobody else seems to have done even that much.

        • @[email protected]English
          9•1 day ago

          Seriously though, I saw this shit coming from a mile away, it’s been dead obvious that the US had some really bad growing fundamental issues that were never going to just magically go away by themselves (I mean, hell, not just the US, but still, they were going to be the first ones, and then there’s stuff like climate change…)

          Why the hell do I seem to be able to figure out overarching trends better than literal professional politicians and leaders of countries? It’s so immensely infuriating

          • @[email protected]English
            6•23 hours ago

            Right?!?!? Genuinely, I fucking hate feeling like I have some special predictive powers. I don’t. I just pay attention to what’s going on in the world while having an interest in history and geopolitics that tends to take me down rabbitholes in that domain. It simply cannot be so rare that we’re the only ones thinking of this shit. It’s not hard to extrapolate, and it’s not outlandish or unexpected.

            I think this is part of why I’ve become such a misanthrope over the years: seeing “leaders” at every level (professional/corporate, local, state, federal) just doing the most vapid, idiotic plays possible instead of actually addressing the root causes of problems. It’s so deeply dismaying. At this point, I kinda believe it’s actually a core flaw that our society has developed.

            • @[email protected]English
              3•21 hours ago

              I’m guessing that being involved in government gave them a false sense of security that things could never get this bad in the US, since for all our faults we never went full Nazi, even in Trump’s first term. Hell, the far right is making strides in a lot of governments around the world, so if they don’t get their shit together they’re gonna fall into the same fascist shithole that we have.

              I kinda believe it’s actually a core flaw that our society has developed.

              It is, and it’s called capitalism. When capital is the driving force of everything, not the well-being of the people, this is an inevitable end result.