Mayor reacts to Trump comments on Ukraine

Sir Sadiq Khan has reacted to Donald Trump’s latest comments on Ukraine as the mayor of Kyiv visits London

Transcript

00:00We have been talking, as you'd imagine, this morning about international matters,

00:04chiefly about Donald Trump's apparent alignment with Kremlin propaganda when it comes to Ukraine

00:09being somehow responsible for their own invasion and the idea of a peace negotiation taking place

00:15without the Ukrainians being present. How significant a moment do you think this is?

00:19Well, firstly, I think it's important to remind those across the country, including London,

00:23why this matters to us. You may think, why is the Mayor of London expressing an opinion about

00:28the President of USA or Putin? The answer is because what happens in Ukraine happens to us,

00:34but also we have tens of thousands of Ukrainians who are refugees in our city because of Putin's

00:40illegal invasion of Ukraine. And what beggars belief is for the President of the USA apparently

00:49rewarding the aggressor, not just in terms of giving him the 20% of Ukraine that they currently

00:57occupy, but also somehow blaming President Zelensky for what's happened over the last

01:02few years. I spent yesterday, you mentioned earlier on, the afternoon with Vitaly Klitschko,

01:08Mayor Klitschko of Kyiv. This guy was a brave boxer, a hero as a boxer. He's even braver as

01:15the Mayor of Kyiv, James. And when you hear the stories of those who've lost their lives,

01:20those who are bereaved, those who are amputees, the suffering in Kyiv and across Ukraine,

01:25and somehow blame the Ukrainian leadership at beggars belief. But also the idea that you'd have

01:33Putin's team and Trump's team having conversations about Ukraine's future

01:39without President Zelensky or Ukrainian people is just bonkers.

01:42How did a politician like Klitschko respond to that simple reality?

01:47One of the reasons he's here is to make sure we remind ourselves of what's happening in Kyiv and

01:54Ukraine. Vitaly is somebody who knows Donald Trump from his days as a boxer. Both him and Vladimir,

01:59his brother, were world champions. And he's really keen to get across the suffering that's all taken

02:06place. Earlier this week, Sir Sadiq Khan met with Vitaly Klitschko, the Mayor of Kyiv, during his

02:12visit to London. The pair discussed further cooperation between London and Kyiv and the

02:19potential future assistance of the British capital in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine's

02:26capital. Mr Klitschko said after the meeting, I met with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan,

02:33in the British capital. We discussed the situation in Kyiv and Ukraine, as well as the further

02:40cooperation between cities. I thanked my colleague for the support and assistance

02:48that the UK and its capital have provided. We also talked about local government and

02:54London's future role in the post-war recovery of Kyiv and Ukraine.