Australia joins world leaders in backing Ukraine after Trump blast
Australia has joined other Western leaders in standing by Ukraine after US President Donald Trump’s astonishing attack on the war-torn nation’s leader.
Trump slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “dictator without elections” and falsely claimed Kyiv had “started” the Russian war.
He also incorrectly stated Zelensky had approval ratings of only 4 per cent.
Asked on Thursday if Zelensky was a dictator, Defence Minister Richard Marles said “no”.
“I’m not about to give you a running commentary on what President Trump is saying,” he told Sky News on Thursday.
“The Australian position is that we see that the global rules‑based order is under threat by what Russia did in respect of Ukraine.
“We will continue to support Ukraine so that they are able to resolve this conflict on their terms.”
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Australia has committed more than $1.5 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion almost three years ago on February 24, 2022.
Asked if the government was considering sending Australian peacekeepers to Ukraine, Marles said it wasn’t being discussed.
“There’s a lot of water to go under the bridge before we get to that point,” he said.
“What we need to be doing is standing with Ukraine right now, and that’s the Australian position and that’s exactly what we are doing.”
There was also support for Zelensky from other world leaders after Trump’s astonishing escalation of personal insults.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer “expressed his support for President Zelensky as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader”, a Downing Street spokesman said.
The spokesman noted that Ukraine went to martial law and had not held an election since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
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It was “perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time, as the UK did during World War II”, the spokesman said.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson criticised Trump’s use of the word “dictator”, while German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called the comments “absurd”.
“If you look at the real world instead of just firing off a tweet, then you know who in Europe has to live in the conditions of a dictatorship: People in Russia, people in Belarus,” she told broadcaster ZDF.
The White House said Trump’s escalation was a response to Zelensky accusing him of “living in a disinformation space” created by Russia.
In a pointed threat to Zelensky, Trump also warned on Wednesday (US time) he had “better move fast” to reach a peace deal with Russia “or he is not going to have a country left”.
In less than a week since Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, his rhetoric has strained relations with European nations who disagree with his approach to end the conflict.
In other developments, Trump’s Russia-Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg was due in Kyiv on Thursday to discuss a possible peace deal.
Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said any terms for a deal to end the conflict must be acceptable to Ukraine and also backed Zelensky.
“He’s a legitimate, democratically elected leader of Ukraine and he is fighting an unjust, unlawful, unprovoked invasion by Vladimir Putin, who is responsible for initiating this conflict,” Paterson told Sky News.
“The burden falls on Vladimir Putin to stop his invasion, to stop his attack on Ukraine, not on anyone else.”
– with AAP
