Shorouk Express
While Scholz didn’t call out the U.S. leader by name, there’s no doubt who he was slapping down when he said: “Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the elected head of state of Ukraine. The inability to hold regular elections in the midst of war is in line with the Ukrainian constitution and electoral laws. No one should claim otherwise.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has had almost nothing but warm words for Trump since he reentered the White House, to try keep the so-called special relationship alive.
But Ukraine is something of a red line. Starmer called Zelenskyy on Wednesday night and, according to a readout released by Downing Street, told the Ukrainian president that he supports him “as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the U.K. did during World War II.”
In an olive branch to Trump, the No. 10 statement did say Starmer “reiterated his support for the U.S.-led efforts to get a lasting peace in Ukraine that deterred Russia from any future aggression.”
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who’s clashed with Trump over his insistent warnings he could acquire the Danish territory of Greenland, said she didn’t understand the U.S. president’s “attack” on Zelenskyy, local media reported. “Zelenskyy is a democratically elected and otherwise unusually capable political leader in Europe,” Frederiksen was quoted as saying.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also emphasized that Ukraine’s leader is democratically elected, while Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Støre said Trump’s comment about Zelenskyy being a dictator was “deeply unreasonable.”
