Starmer seeks to calm Europe's row with Trump

US president accuses PM and Emmanuel Macron of doing nothing to end the war in Ukraine

- Kiran Stacey

Keir Starmer will not risk riling Donald Trump by challenging him over his attack on the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, when the pair finally meet next week, as the prime minister seeks to cool an escalating transatlantic row.

Starmer will fly to the US in the coming days for what could be a defining moment in his premiership, as Europe and the US trade accusations and insults about the origins of the conflict in Ukraine and the best way to end it.

Trump added to the tensions yesterday when he accused both Starmer and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, of having done nothing to help end the war.

"They haven't done anything Macron is a friend of mine, and I've met with the prime minister, he's a very nice guy... [but] nobody's done anything," he told Fox News.

His comments came amid mounting condemnation among European leaders over his assertions that Zelenskyy is a dictator and that Ukraine began the war in 2022. Germany's chancellor, Olaf Scholz, called Trump's statements "wrong and dangerous", while Zelenskyy himself accused the US president of living in a "disinformation bubble".

With transatlantic relations at a low, Starmer and Macron will both travel to Washington next week for talks they hope will help determine the fate of an independent Ukraine. But while Macron has promised to deliver a blunt message to Trump about the risk of looking weak in front of Putin, Starmer is hoping to defuse the row, including by avoiding direct reference to the president's recent comments.