Trump ‘Got it Right’ By Calling Putin Crazy, Lord Mandelson Says

WASHINGTON DC – On Tuesday, the British ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson, used his first big speech in Washington to align his country closely with President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine, while pointing out Putin’s disrespect for the US president.

Speaking before an audience at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think-tank, Lord Mandelson sharply criticized Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s “barbaric” actions in Ukraine, saying that US President Donald Trump “got it right over the weekend” when he called Putin “crazy.”

Lord Mandelson went on to elaborate: “I mean, crazy in [Putin’s] indifference to international opinion, crazy in his disrespect for the President of the United States and what [Trump] is trying to do to bring peace, but [Putin has] notably gone crazy in the continuing death and destruction that he is visiting upon Ukraine and its people.”

Trump lambasted his Russian counterpart over the weekend following mass air attacks on Kyiv, and warned that Moscow risked new sanctions. On Tuesday, Trump warned the Kremlin leader of “playing with fire,” launching a fresh broadside at Putin over stalled Ukraine peace efforts.

Lord Mandelson said that last weekend saw the “biggest single bombing raid of Ukraine killing so many Ukrainians sleeping in their beds that we have seen since the invasion by Russia began.”

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In a wide-ranging discussion at the Black Sea Security Forum 2026, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reflected on Ukraine’s transformation since 2014, arguing that the country has broken decisively with its Soviet past, built Europe’s strongest army, and must pursue EU and NATO membership as the foundation of its long-term security.

“Is this a man who’s looking for peace? Doesn’t look like it to me,” he said of Putin.

The UK, the ambassador said, is “in absolute solidarity with and fully square behind the Ukrainian people in their fight”.

Lord Mandelson also highlighted that Ukraine will “undoubtedly” need security guarantees.

He said: “We, amongst others in Europe, as well as some outside Europe, are determined to do what we can, to train, build up, resupply, re-equip Ukraine’s Armed Forces so that they are in the best possible position to defend and secure themselves against further Russian invasion, and that must be our priority.”

As to the US, the Ambassador revealed that President Trump vowed during his recent conversation with the UK Prime Minister that Washington would have the Europeans’ backs in their efforts to protect Ukraine.

Trump, he said, told the British that “you’re great soldiers; you’re great fighting people. We respect what you do on the battlefield, and we’ll always have your back.”

“That’s what the [US] president said to our [British] prime minister, and I think he’s a man of his word,” he added.

Lord Mandelson also cast Russia’s war against Ukraine as a wake-up call for Europe, saying that Britain and Europe have been living in a “fantasy” world of American security, and that Trump has done the West a “favor” by insisting its allies pay more for their defense.

The UK, he said, needed to “become less dependent on America” while retaining the inseparable links developed in the post-war era.“It is crystal clear that European defense must step up and rebalance for our collective security,” he emphasized.

The UK and US must also cooperate on new technologies such as artificial intelligence to counter the “clear shared threat” from China, Lord Mandelson concluded.