Nigel Farage calls for peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine

ITV News Political Correspondent Harry Horton spoke to Nigel Farage for ITV's Tonight programme.

Nigel Farage has called for peace negotiations to try and end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Speaking to ITV News Political Correspondent Harry Horton on the latest The Leader Interviews - Tonight programme, the Reform UK leader said the West “provoked Putin stupidly”.

Asked how he would deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he said: “We've tried of course through sanctions to weaken him, but all that's actually done is drive him into the arms of China.”

“I felt the ever, ever eastward expansion of Nato and the European Union was giving Putin a reason to go to war,” added Farage.

“I guess the question is, what do we do now? And yes, I do support us giving munitions and help to Ukraine, but I feel the war is a complete stalemate. I think the number of lives being lost is horrific.

“There have been no sensible substantive negotiations of any kind and even if negotiations to try and find a peace to try and find a way through fail, I think it's better to have those negotiations than not.”

The UK government and Labour opposition have consistently said it should be for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to decide when any peace negotiations with Russia should begin.

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“There is just no sense at all in which Britain would try to persuade, strong-arm or otherwise, Ukraine into accepting giving up some of their territory,” said Defence Secretary Grant Shapps last month.

Nigel Farage also claimed former US President Donald Trump "learned a lot" from him and studied his speeches in the European Parliament before he ran for office.

Farage - who counts Donald Trump as a close friend - said he wasn't 'Britain’s Trump': "I think we're very different but I think we think the same on many things, certainly…

"He's learned quite a lot from me, I think it goes both ways… I mean, he was watching my speeches in the European Parliament for many years… Before he decided to run."

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Asked whether he had been told this personally by the former president, Farage replied; “I know that to be true”.

Nigel Farage also said he has an issue with migrants coming to Britain and continuing to speak their own language: "I have a huge problem with people coming to Britain, not assimilating, maintaining their own languages. You know, not mixing in communities. That is a disaster."

In several recent opinion surveys, the Reform UK party have polled higher than the Conservative Party, although are still projected to win just a handful of seats.

Nigel Farage said it was “absolutely” his goal to become prime minister at the next election.

“My aim is to take this up to the 2029 general election. And if I'm leading, still Reform UK, then, well, then the aim would be to win the election.”

He said electoral success for his party would likely be at the expense of the Conservative Party.

“I'd like to think we could replace them and yes, I know they've been around for 190 years but they're about to get an electoral mauling on a scale that I don't think anybody has yet fully comprehended.”

Watch The Leader Interviews - Tonight programme - at 7pm on June 24 on ITV1 and ITVX.

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