(If polls are correct).
Farage: Trump’s Ukraine deal ‘not acceptable’
Reform leader’s remarks come after US tables 28-point plan designed to end fighting between Kyiv and Russia
21 November 2025
Nigel Farage has backed Ukraine’s opposition to Donald Trump’s peace deal and criticised the US president’s demand that the country halves the size of its army.
In a rare public rebuke of Mr Trump, the Reform UK leader told The Telegraph that the terms on offer to Kyiv were not “acceptable”.
Mr Farage’s remarks represent a significant strengthening of his support for Ukraine following attempts by Labour to cast him as sympathetic to Vladimir Putin.
They come after the Trump administration tabled a 28-point peace plan designed to end the fighting between Ukraine and Russia.
The plan – which would force Kyiv to hand over land to Moscow that it has not taken – has been denounced by critics as a “capitulation”to the Kremlin.
Under the terms of the proposed agreement, Ukraine would have to reduce the size of its army from one million active personnel to 600,000. The country would also be locked out of Nato, and would not be allowed to host either troops or warplanes operated by Western allies.
Mr Trump has given Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, until Thursday to accept the deal or face being cut off from US arms supplies and intelligence.
In March, Mr Farage opposed an earlier US peace plan, telling Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s quite right to aim for peace, but we can’t have a peace that turns Putin into a winner, so I would not be 100 per cent with where his team is right now, absolutely not.”
In response to this week’s plan, he told The Telegraph: “I don’t think Ukraine being asked to halve the size of their army is acceptable. I am waiting to see a counter-proposal from Zelensky’s government.”
Earlier this year, Mr Farage publicly rejected Mr Trump’s claim that Mr Zelensky was a dictator, insisting that was not the case.
Reform’s leader has repeatedly burnished his links to the White House, but has increasingly distanced himself from its stance on Russia’s invasion.
Polling shows that public support for Ukraine remains strong, with six in 10 voters backing continued UK assistance to the country.
Mr Farage’s intervention came on the same day that Nathan Gill, Reform’s former leader in Wales, was jailed for 10 and a half years for accepting bribes to promote Russian interests in the European Parliament.
Sir Keir Starmer responded to the sentencing by urging Mr Farage to set up an internal inquiry into “what other links are there between his party and Russia”.
Labour has attempted to portray Reform as pro-Russian, with Sir Keir claiming earlier this year that its leader was “fawning over Putin”. No 10 strategists have identified questions over the poll-topping party’s strength of support for Ukraine as an area in which they could sow doubt in voters’ minds.
Mr Farage has said Nato “provoked” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by expanding eastwards, though he has insisted the blame for the war lies with Putin.
Last month, the Reform leader insisted that he would be prepared to “shoot down” Russian jets if they crossed into allied airspace should he become prime minister. The remarks, in an interview with Bloomberg, were seen as an attempt to dispel any questions over his commitment to the Western military alliance.
I was pleasantly surprised that Gill got 10.5 years.
I expected something more feeble.
This insubordination to Trump is also surprising. Will Trump do what he usually does with people that take a sympathetic line towards Ukraine like Liz Cheney; call for his execution?!
It could be that the Reform voters that are so active on the DT’s comments pages might follow their leader’s change of direction.
We will see.
Comment from :
Sam Davis
Europe should respond by threatening to close US bases, but that would require courage and moral fibre, so probably too much to hope for.
JE
John Ellwood
14 MIN AGO
Bottom line is that the Russians will want to change the proposed peace deal and so will Ukraine …… and President Trump will just have to back off and increase the type of sanctions including the current oil and gas sanctions on Russia.
The UN including the UK and Canada needs to step up to the plate and provide a lot more military support to Ukraine including letting Ukraine make long range missile strikes on infrastructure ….. power stations, telemetry / communications systems, oil & gas refineries, ports and marine infrastructure, etc, etc.
Any deal to stop the current war should stipulate that Russia has to withdraw back to it’s own borders …… and Ukraine will not be allowed to Join NATO.
The oil & gas sanctions should stay in place and further sanctions imposed on Russia until they propose a peace deal that is fair ….. put the responsibility for peace back on to the Russians.
An comment that starts well but descends into idiocy :
Not HappyDan
Trump wants the USA out of the war. He has no fondness for Ukraine after it refused to help him by investigating the Bidens so he has given them a peace plan that they can’t support so he can exit and let Europe and Ukraine work it out. Probably a smart move until Russia decides to invade other former Soviet Union states that are now NATO members. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania or Finland that was part of the Russian empire. Trump does not realise that this war is not about Ukraine – if the fighting is restricted to Ukraine then Putin won’t go into NATO states – things get much more serious if he does.
Sweden may welcome a Russian takeover to kick out all the economic migrants that are ruining the country.
A filthy kremtroll:
Pete New
Ukraine spent years bombing the Eastern part of Ukraine that still considered itself Russian. The inhabitants there, likely hate the Ukrainian government even more now, than they used to.
AHF Bugden
It shows how ignorant Trump is. During WW2 Churchill was a dictator. The office of dictator is an Ancient Roman concept and constitutional. The idea is that democracy is suspended in troubled times – especially when the state is at risk. It is crazy to suggest that Ukraine have elections whilst Russia is attacking. It would not be safe and it would be simple for outside issues to influence the election.
This deal is good for the USA and good for Russia. It is not good for Ukraine. A deal is only good if it is good for all sides and Ukraine is being treated as a beaten aggressor rather than the aggrieved party.
Trump has also seeking to make an agreement on behalf of European countries.
The Peace Council is to be headed by “Donald J Trump”. This is clearly self sercing for Trump – we all know he covets the Nobel Peace Prize.
Farage is right. Britain should reject this plan as should the EU – it looks France is against it. It certainly is not in the interests of Ukraine and it teaches other countries that violence does win. It certainly teaches China that they can reclaim their own land from the nationalists.
David Riley
Not often I agree with Farage but Trump’s plan is a joke.
Chris Brooks
I’m glad Nigel Farage has cleared the air on this one.
Trump’s deal has rewarded Russia for their invasion of Ukraine.
Totally unacceptable.
Ivor Heard
Farage has the right tone for this situation. Support Ukraine and tell Trump to go to hell for his weakness.
Roger Batchelor
Typical multi faced Farage takes the opportunity to jump on the bandwagon looking to erase the memory of his apparent long term support for Putin.
Dave SLOGGETT
The American president has created the conditions for a new major conflict in Europe. Well done!
Another Reader
What is ‘not acceptable’ is to declare the West and Ukraine are to blame for the invasion, or to admire Putin’s leadership.
Richard Weeks
Trump is no peacemaker, he should apply the same strategy to the Russians, e.g. give Russia’s frozen assets to the Ukrainians, apply even more sanctions and raises tariffs for any country taking Russian oil or gas. He can play hardball with Zelensky who is the underdog, but can he play hardball with Putin?
Rob Mann
It is one perspective to say that the West provoked Russia (ie a Russian perspective). The inconvenient other perspective is that Eastern European countries, having escaped the yoke of communism under failed Russian leadership, independently sought security or safety in numbers. NATO is a defensive organization.
Scott Driver
Nigel needs to tell Donald the Witless (Witkoff) terms of surrender “deal’ he drew up when taking dictation from Vlad is completely unacceptable.
M Bilewycz
Nigel is right on this surrender deal, and I am somewhat surprised.
Perhaps he has realised that Putin and Russia are indeed our enemies, and that it is both intellectually/philosophically honest and consistent with Brexit to support Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty.
On the other hand he is simply being pragmatic.
I have no idea.
However, his position puts him diametrically opposed to Trump (who holds grudges), and who will take the criticism personally. But America is losing friends.
Whatever, I really do hope Zelensky will tell donny where to shove his surrender deal because Ukraine does make many of their own long range weapons, is bleeding Russia dry, and Russia is running out of time and money. Their economy is now struggling. India has cancelled oil orders from Russia.
Time for Europe to collapse their economy.
Andy Sheppard
It is in our British DNA to fight against any Invaders! Putin is one of these and so is the Chinese President! I agree with Farage that we have to back Ukraine as it’s the right thing to do against Tyranny.
Elizabeth nickels
This is a disgraceful betrayal but Ukraine is loosing this war. Trump is only interested in what financial gain he can reap from what is left of Ukraine. Had they been given the weapons they needed at the beginning of the war it might have been a victory for Ukraine. Russian is being rewarded for aggression and Putin will not stop there. The land Putin wants is rich and fertile. He will use it to feed grain to Africa and Trump will rape Ukraine for the rare earths USA wants. Europe’s weakness has lead to this.
Patrick Rengger
I am half expecting Trump to announce that this is a “quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing” and that he has achieved “peace in our time”. He should be reminded that “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war,” since we are already at the “about us, without us” stage of appeasement. I am further remined o Jan Masaryk at eh time of the Munich betrayal
“If you have sacrificed my nation to preserve the peace of the world, I will be the first to applaud you. But if not, gentlemen, God help your souls.”
Patrick Rengger
For those who woudl suggest that Trump’s massive betrayal and sellout is just an “acceptance of reality” i would add that the “reality” that this proposal accepts is not just that Ukraine can become a satrapy of Moscow at Putin’s time of choosing, but that the US has no need or wish for friends or allies, does not recognize the idea of friends and allies, does not believe in any concept of liberty worth defending and only believes in short term self interest for itself and its leader and therefore neither expects nor wants the support of any nation in any other international engagements. It accepts the “reality” that the world is one where the strong do what they want and the weak suffer what they must – made worse by the fact that the US is making strong those it should be making weak. The reality this proposal accepts and indeed creates is that the US will soon be functionally alone, others working with it only out of duress (which they will be eager to shake off) or short term self interest which will switch when convenient to another party. The “reality” this accepts is not that liberty, freedom and the rule of law can’t be defended but that the US has no longer any interest in defending them even when others, like the EU and UK are paying half the cost.
Rush Hans
Typically SPINELESS Farage behaviour.
We all know he has long supported Putin. He’s just looking at the opinion polls, that’s all!
Those who supported/support the MAGA movement now owe all of us an APOLOGY.
Doug Knox
Surrendering to Putin, will not buy peace.
Making any deal, with Putin, will be merely futile wishful thinking, as was each previous deal, which Putin has signed, broken, and then disregarded and invaded.
So look again at plan B, if you want peace.
Pinch me to see if I’m awake. Farage is rejecting this “peace” plan? What’s the matter with him? I thought an amoral person like him would jump with joy.
He’s ahead in the polls. It might be a genuine attempt to appear statesmanlike. Or he might have calculated that taking a pro-Ukraine line will win him even more Conservative voters and consolidate his position.
In the thousands of comments generated by this article are recognizable Reform voters who have decided to back him up.
I will be monitoring his words on this from now on.
Krasnov will not be pleased with this defiance.
I will never understand people who support someone so amoral and undignified as Farrage (MAGA, AfD, the toad, Fico, Le Pen…).
I say fuck Trump and 28 pieces of silver.
He can talk big but he does not have the support of the Europeans or the Congress to maintain the cut off of support. Besides in one year his support is going to be even worse when the Republicans get massacred in the midterms.
What’s more the Republicans know this and are slowly starting to wiggle out from under his fat thumb.
Ukrainians have done without US support before and while painful they can do it again.
Aside from HIMARS and Patriot there is not much that Ukraine needs that can not be supplied elsewhere.
So my Ukrainian friends don’t be bullied into an unacceptable “Peace” deal that will only lead to more war in the near future.