BORIS HOLDS MEETING WITH TRUMP: Here’s What We Know They Talked About

Boris Johnson and Donald Trump discussed Ukraine and “the vital importance of Ukrainian victory” this week, Johnson’s spokesperson has confirmed.

Since being ousted as Britain’s prime minister last year, Johnson has been keen to forge a profile as one of Ukraine’s most ardent backers in its fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion and has been visiting the United States this week to speak to politicians about maintaining support for Kyiv.

A spokesperson for Johnson, who was once dubbed “Britain Trump” by the former president, said Johnson met Trump on Thursday “to discuss the situation in Ukraine and the vital importance of Ukrainian victory”.

Johnson is understood to have attempted to influence Trump, who has often promoted debunked conspiracy theories and pro-Kremlin rhetoric, into understanding the threat that Russia poses not only to Ukraine but to the rest of the western world.

However, Trump told Fox News in March that he and Putin had an amicable yet stern relationship, recounting he warned the ex-KGB agent not to invade Ukraine.

Johnson previously claimed Putin threatened to attack him with a missile strike after he visited Ukraine prior to the start of the war.

Trump is currently running for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as his closest opponent in a variety of polls.

DeSantis declared his candidacy for president on Wednesday in a campaign launch video first reported by Fox News.

That announcement was quickly followed evening following an extremely rocky rollout by DeSantis in an appearance on Twitter with business magnate and Twitter owner Elon Musk, where the Florida governor concurrently kicked off his 2024 campaign.

At a CNN town hall earlier this month, Mr Trump refused to say whether Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, is a war criminal, or who he wanted to win in the conflict, saying only that he wants “everybody to stop dying”.

US support for sending weapons to Ukraine has suffered a sharp year-on-year decline, a new poll has found.

Just 50 per cent of Americans said in April that they strongly favoured or favoured the US sending weapons to Ukraine, compared with 61 per cent last year.

Public support for economic sanctions against Russia has also dropped, the poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and NORC at the University of Chicago found, as well as the acceptance of Ukrainian refugees.

The only support that did not drop was for sending government funds to Ukraine rather than weapons.

Despite this, the majority of Americans, totalling 70 percent, disapproved of Russia’s invasion.

Approval was split along political lines. Around 80 percent of Democrats said they were against Russia’s actions in Ukraine, compared to 69 percent of Republicans, according to the Harris School of Public Policy.

A number of well-known Republicans are pushing for US aid to Kyiv to cease, including conspiracy theorist and Qanon promoter Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has been slammed for frequently tweeting pro-Russian disinformation.