Sir Keir Starmer has backed Volodymyr Zelensky as “Ukraine’s democratically elected leader” after Donald Trump claimed he was a dictator and called for Ukraine to hold elections. A Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister had called Mr Zelensky on Wednesday evening and said it was “perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime as the UK did during World War Two”.

The prime minister's show of support for Volodymyr Zelenskyy comes after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch refuted Mr Trump's comment but said the US leader was right that Europe "needs to pull its weight".