Priti Patel defends Donald Trump after US president’s social media attack on Volodymyr Zelensky

Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel defended Donald Trump over some of the comments he made during a social media attack on Volodoymyr Zelensky.

Ms Patel said the US president has made “very significant points consistently”, stating Trump deserved credit for his involvement in Russia and Ukraine peace talks.

Appearing on Sky Breakfast on Thursday (20 February), Ms Patel said: “He has made some very significant points consistently in all credit to President Trump about Europe, and Europe stepping up when it comes to defence spending.”

When pressed about Trump’s false claims that the Ukrainian president was a “dicatator” for refusing to have elections, Ms Patel said he was not.