Boris Johnson: Trump's statements are not meant to be historically accurate but to "shock Europeans into action"

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refuted a number of recent claims made by US President Donald Trump but stressed that such statements are necessary to motivate Europe to act.

ohnson believes that Europeans should stop being scandalised about Donald Trump and start helping him to end the war.

Nevertheless, he himself had some objections to Trump’s statements, particularly concerning what he said about the need to hold elections in Ukraine.

"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 Zelenskyy’s ratings are not 4%. They are actually about the same as Trump’s," Johnson wrote on X (Twitter).

However, Johnson believes Trump's statements are not meant to be historically accurate but to "shock Europeans into action".

He also mentioned the US$300 billion in frozen Russian assets, mainly in Belgium.

"That is cash that could and should be used to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support," Johnson said, accusing Europe of preventing the unfreezing of the funds.

"The US believes Belgium, France and other countries are blocking. It’s absurd. We need to get serious and fast," Johnson stated.

Earlier, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to US President Donald Trump’s claim that only 4% of Ukrainians supported him.

Zelenskyy said Trump had fallen victim to Russian disinformation.

Trump also commented rather cynically on the fact that Ukraine was not present at the talks held between the US and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia on 18 February.