Boris attacks Farage over row with Zelensky

What is Nigel Farage doing? The reformist leader doubled down this weekend on his assertion that the West helped provoke Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Following his comments to the BBC on Friday, he subsequently wrote an article in the Telegraph Saturday, saying that what I have been saying for 10 years is that the West played into Putin's hands, giving him an excuse to do whatever he wanted to do anyway. It sparked a torrent of cross-party criticism, with Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer branding his remarks disgraceful.

Such has been the storm unleashed by Farage that even the leaders in kyiv now seem to be getting involved. THE Mail Sunday » splashed claims that a source in President Zelensky's office had accused Farage of being infected with the Putinism virus. The Ukrainian presidency told the BBC it would not issue an official statement on Farages' comments. But following Farages' interview on Friday, a source in the presidential office reportedly warned the Society on the virus of Putinism and the rise of war propaganda, adding: The task of civilized humanity is to nip this virus in the bud.

Farage, enraged, now threatens to take legal action Email news group, writing on Twitter/X on Sunday evening that Zelensky's claim was completely false and that he has now asked Carter Ruck to fix it. He added that:

Tomorrow Daily Mail are so desperate to defame reform that they have now contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry and prompted them to cite a purported quote from someone in Sergei Lavrov's office who calls me an ally. That a British media group is actively collaborating with the Kremlin to protect its dying conservative party is an absolute scandal. The British people will see through this act of utter desperation.

With the Email group now under attack, who better to help them than their superstar columnist? Following Farage's legal threats, Boris Johnson took to Twitter/X to to write a 150-word rebuttal from Reform leaders Telegraph article which he called nauseating ahistorical drivel and Kremlin propaganda. The former prime minister said the Ukrainian people voted overwhelmingly in 1991 to become a sovereign and independent country. They had every right to seek membership in both NATO and the EU. There is only one person responsible for Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014 and 2022: Putin. He concluded thus:

Trying to spread blame is morally repugnant and repeating Putin's lies. It is bizarre that the author also suggests that we now reduce our support for Ukraine, when the solution to the conflict is actually clear: Ukrainians must win and repel Putin's invasion. They can and they will. The problem of the last 30 years has not been Western provocation but Western weakness in the face of Russian aggression, a weakness illustrated by this article.

Ouch. This should end an unlikely post-election Johnson-Farage pact