Trump's disgraceful attack on Ukraine's Zelensky shows why UK needs billions to rearm

When Zelensky tried to defend his position – as leader of a country that is fighting for its freedom after Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion – Vance and Trump appeared to become increasingly irate, with the latter eventually saying “you’re either going to make a deal or we’re out”.

In other words, Trump will abandon the defence of a democratic country against the forces of a bloodthirsty tyrant unless Zelensky surrenders Ukraine’s occupied territory – and, what’s more, Ukraine must sign over its rare earth minerals to the US.

‘Same side as Russia’

All the pressure that the US can bring to bear is being put on Zelensky, while Putin watches gleefully from the sidelines. If Trump is prepared to do this in Ukraine’s case, the Kremlin may well calculate that his attitude will be much the same towards countries like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. They may be Nato members but they were also once part of the Soviet empire Putin wants to rebuild.

There are credible fears Trump will withdraw the US from Nato and, whether he does or not, his commitment to Article 5 of the alliance’s treaty, which says that an attack on one member state is regarded as an attack on all, is in serious doubt.

At the United Nations earlier this week, the US voted with Russia in opposing a resolution that backed Ukraine’s territorial integrity and condemned the invasion. This prompted US Senator John Curtis, a Republican, to write on social media: “I was deeply troubled by the vote at the UN... which put us on the same side as Russia and North Korea. These are not our friends. This posture is a dramatic shift from American ideals of freedom and democracy.”

Despite the friendly, but cringeworthy talks between Trump and Keir Starmer on Thursday, the Prime Minister has no choice but to take this “dramatic shift” very seriously indeed. He will have been delighted with how well things went, but their meeting will now be viewed in a very different light as a result of Trump’s open hostility towards Zelensky.

The UK and other European democracies have long relied on American military might to guarantee their security. It is no longer possible to do this. And the situation is actually worse than it may appear because the UK has American weapons systems that will only work if the US continues to provide software upgrades.

Hero’s welcome for Zelensky required

This is why the UK must rapidly increase defence spending, and this is why the international aid budget must be cut, as tragic as that decision most certainly is for the world. Our military needs to spend billion of pounds on rearming as quickly as it possibly can.

Their recent flurry of meetings suggests European leaders are scrambling to face up to this new reality. Tomorrow, Starmer will host a European security summit in London where Zelensky must receive a very public and vocal hero’s welcome from all the presidents and prime ministers in attendance.

The democracies of Europe must prepare for a world in which the US is no longer on its side. And, although it hardly bears thinking about, as it is the stuff of nightmares, they also need to consider the possibility that Trump is now against us.