STV NewsFirst Minister John Swinney has said assurances were needed from the US after the “disastrous” exchange between President Volodymr Zelensky and President Donald Trump.
It comes after a heated exchanged in the White House’s Oval Office between Zelensky and Trump on Friday.
PA MediaSpeaking at Bute House on Sunday, Swinney described the heated encounter as “disastrous” and “incomprehensible”.
“Scotland has stood shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine since the illegal invasion by Russia. I want that to continue and I give the assurance that it will continue in the years to come,” Swinney told STV News.
The SNP leader added that the events that took place in the Oval Office have created “great uncertainty”.
“I think the sense of international solidarity between the United States and Europe, with Ukraine, was called into question,” Swinney said.
“We need to have assurance that the United States stands full scale with us in supporting our European partners in assisting Ukraine in their time of need.”
The First Minister is open to the question of British troops being deployed, saying Ukraine is the “front line for protecting the democracy of western Europe”.
“I think there is a role that troops from the United Kingdom to play as part of a peace keeping effort in Ukraine. I think we should be open to that,” he said.
“I think we’ve got to be part of assuring the people of Ukraine that their security is being protected by the international community.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with Trump earlier in the week where he presented Trump with a letter from the King which suggested meeting at Balmoral in Aberdeenshire or Dumfries House in East Ayrshire ahead of a state visit.
PA MediaHowever, the visit has since been called into question following Friday’s events.
“We shouldn’t be talking about a second state visit for President Trump to the United Kingdom until we are assured that President Trump is going to stand full scale with us in supporting Ukraine in resisting the Russain invasion and protecting the independence of Ukraine,” Swinney said.
The First Minister last spoke to the US President in a call on December 10, in which they discussed Trump’s love of Scotland, where his mother Mary Anne MacLeod was born.
However, the president’s son Eric earlier said it was “nasty” of the First Minister to endorse his Democrat rival ahead of the presidential election, saying Swinney had “read the temperature very wrong”.
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