UK’s Nigel Farage Says the West Provoked Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine

 Leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage delivers a speech at a hotel in Blackpool, northwestern England, on June 20, 2024, in the build-up to the UK general election on July 4. (AFP)
Leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage delivers a speech at a hotel in Blackpool, northwestern England, on June 20, 2024, in the build-up to the UK general election on July 4. (AFP)
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UK’s Nigel Farage Says the West Provoked Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine

 Leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage delivers a speech at a hotel in Blackpool, northwestern England, on June 20, 2024, in the build-up to the UK general election on July 4. (AFP)
Leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage delivers a speech at a hotel in Blackpool, northwestern England, on June 20, 2024, in the build-up to the UK general election on July 4. (AFP)

Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain's right-wing Reform UK party, said the eastward of expansion of the European Union and NATO had provoked Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

The remarks, made in an interview with the BBC aired late on Friday, drew strong criticism across the British political spectrum ahead of a July 4 election in which Farage's party is predicted to win millions of votes.

Farage said he stood by comments made shortly after Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when he posted on social media that the move was a "consequence of EU and NATO expansion". He said he had been predicting a war in Ukraine as early as 2014.

"It was obvious to me that the ever-eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union was giving this man a reason to his Russian people to say, 'They're coming for us again' and to go to war," Farage said in Friday's BBC interview.

"We provoked this war ... of course it's his (Putin's) fault - he's used what we've done as an excuse."

Russia casts its special military operation in Ukraine as part of a broader struggle with the West, which it says wants to bring Russia to its knees. Kyiv and the West reject this and accuse Russia of waging an illegal war of conquest.

Farage's decades of campaigning against Britain's membership of the EU and mass immigration has made him one of the country's most recognizable and divisive politicians.

His surprise entry into the election race has further hit Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's hopes of closing the center-left Labour Party's opinion poll lead.

Even though Reform is unlikely to win many seats in parliament, it could split the right-of-center vote across the country. The party held only one seat in the last parliament, which it gained when a Conservative lawmaker defected.

Farage's remarks on Ukraine drew immediate condemnation.

Sunak said Farage was "completely wrong", accusing him of appeasement that put Britain and its allies' security at risk. Labour's defense spokesman John Healey called Farage's comments disgraceful and labelled him a "Putin apologist".

Farage later posted on X: "Putin was wrong to invade a sovereign nation, and the EU was wrong to expand eastward. The sooner we realize this, the closer we will be to ending the war and delivering peace."



Pope Francis, Starting Fourth Week in Hospital, Showing Improvement, Vatican Says

This photograph shows the Gemelli Hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalised, in Rome, on March 8, 2025.
This photograph shows the Gemelli Hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalised, in Rome, on March 8, 2025.
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Pope Francis, Starting Fourth Week in Hospital, Showing Improvement, Vatican Says

This photograph shows the Gemelli Hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalised, in Rome, on March 8, 2025.
This photograph shows the Gemelli Hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalised, in Rome, on March 8, 2025.

Pope Francis is showing a "good response" to his treatment in hospital for double pneumonia and his overall condition is gradually improving, the Vatican said on Saturday.

Francis, 88, has been in Rome's Gemelli hospital for more than three weeks with a severe respiratory infection that has required continuously evolving treatment.

"The clinical condition of the Holy Father in recent days has remained stable and, consequently, indicates a good response to the treatment," the latest detailed medical update said.

The pope, it said, has continued to have no fever and his blood tests have remained stable.

Although the doctors said they had seen "a gradual, slight improvement" in the pope's overall condition, they maintained a guarded prognosis "in order to ensure these initial improvements continue in the coming days".

The pope is continuing to receive oxygen to help with his breathing, the Vatican press office said. During the day, he uses a small oxygen hose under his nose. At night, he has been using non-invasive mechanical ventilation as he sleeps.

Francis has experienced several bouts of ill health over the last two years and is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.

Double pneumonia is a serious infection in both lungs that can inflame and scar them, making it difficult to breathe.

Francis has not been seen in public since entering hospital, his longest such absence since his papacy started nearly 12 years ago.

The pope's doctors have not said how long the treatment might last. He will miss a weekly prayer with pilgrims for the fourth week in a row on Sunday, the Vatican said.

Doctors not involved in Francis' care have said the pope is likely to face a long, fraught road to recovery, given his age and other long-standing medical conditions.

The tone of the updates from the Vatican has been cautiously upbeat in recent days, after the pope suffered what was described as two episodes of "acute respiratory insufficiency" on March 3.

Groups gathered outside Gemelli hospital throughout the day on Saturday to pray for Francis. They placed candles, prayer beads and other items at the base of a statue of the late Pope John Paul II, who was treated at the facility many times over his 1978-2005 papacy.

Maria Neve, from Naples, Italy, left a small bouquet of yellow flowers. "He is an incredible person who gives so much to others, and we, in turn, must give back to him," she said.

Francis, who is known to work himself to exhaustion, has continued to work from hospital. On Saturday, the Vatican announced the appointments of four bishops that would have required his approval.

Francis on Saturday also sent a message to an anti-abortion group in Italy which was undertaking a pilgrimage to the Vatican.

The message, read aloud to the group by Cardinal Pietro Parolin in St. Peter's Basilica, was signed by Francis with a note to say it was sent "from Gemelli hospital".