Nigel Farage warns 'there may be no young men left' in latest Ukraine war outburst

Nigel Farage has warned Boris Johnson and Volodymyr Zelensky’s strategy in the Ukraine war will lead to every "young man" in the country being killed,

The Reform UK leader said he is “pretty sceptical” about Kyiv’s chances of winning the war with Russia.

He claimed Boris Johnson wants Ukrainian and Russian forces to "fight to the death" and that there may be "no young men left in Ukraine" if peace talks are not held.

President Zelensky has stated he will only hold peace negotiations with Moscow if Russian troops pull out of every Ukrainian territory.

But asked what peace would look like, and the potential compromises the Ukrainian war hero may have to make, Mr Farage continued his war of words with former Prime Minister Mr Johnson.

He told the Daily Express: "What it looks like is not rejecting a peace deal which Johnson very clearly did, for his own reasons. How many people have died as a result of that? I don't know.

"Johnson, on the Ukraine war, it's as if he wants both sides to fight to the death. Given we've got up to a million battle casualties, I find it extraordinary.

"It may be that peace is some way away. All I've said is that I was totally opposed to the Iraq War, vehemently opposed to the Libyan war and I just think some attempt to broker negotiations between these two sides needs to happen.

"Clearly, on territory, such as Crimea, that is going to be incredibly difficult."

Pointed out that Zelensky has always vowed to reclaim all of the territory taken by Russia, Mr Farage told the Express: "Well, there may be no young men left in Ukraine."

Asked if he would be willing to tell the Ukrainian leader he may have to cede ground, Mr Farage added: "That's his choice. I just think some attempt, no-one is even talking about peace. All we are talking about is 'Ukraine is going to win'. Really? I'm pretty sceptical about that."

The Kremlin has stated it will only end the war if Kyiv gives up its claims on the four Ukrainian regions Moscow partially controls - Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Ukrainian and Western officials have repeatedly warned that Putin intends to settle for nothing less than Kyiv’s total defeat, and that any truce or peace talks are merely a guise to allow Russia’s troops to regroup and launch a fresh and fiercer offensive in the future.

On Monday, the Reform UK leader slammed Mr Johnson as "morally repugnant" after the former Conservative PM accused him of spreading Kremlin propaganda.

On Friday, Mr Farage claimed NATO’s expansion had provoked Vladimir Putin into attacking Ukraine. During a rally in Maidstone on Monday, he unveiled an enlarged newspaper front page claiming Mr Johnson had also blamed the EU expansion for Putin’s invasion of Crimea.

Mr Farage has also claimed his Tory rival will go down as "the worst Prime Minister of modern times".

The European Union has launched membership talks with Ukraine - a decade after Russian troops seized the Crimean peninsula to deter the country from moving closer to the West.

Ukraine's accession negotiations were set in motion at an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg. Moldova is also due to launch its membership talks later on Tuesday.

While the events are a major milestone on their European paths, the talks could take years to conclude.

In opening remarks presented via video link, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal described it as "a historic day" that marks "a new chapter" in his country's ties with the bloc, particularly as the war with Russia rages on.

He said: "We fully understand that there is still much work ahead of us on the path to accession. We are ready for it. We have demonstrated that we can move swiftly and achieve the impossible."

Belgian foreign minister Hadja Lahbib, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, described it as "a historic moment for us all, and marks a milestone in our relationship".

Ms Lahbib said the EU condemns "Russia's unjustified and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine and salutes the resilience of the Ukrainian people", and added that the bloc will continue to support Ukraine in the war "for as long as it takes and as intensely as needed".

Unanimous agreement must be given by all 27 member countries to open or close chapters, providing ample opportunity for EU nations to demand more work or to delay proceedings.

Hungary, which takes over the EU's rotating presidency from Belgium in July, has routinely put the brakes on EU and Nato support for Ukraine.

"We are still at the beginning of the screening process. It's very difficult to say at what stage Ukraine is in. From what I see here, as we speak, they are very far from meeting the accession criteria," Hungarian minister for European affairs Janos Boka said as he arrived at the venue.

Ukraine wants to join by 2030, but it must carry out dozens of institutional and legal reforms first. That daunting list is led by steps to combat corruption and includes broad reforms to public administration and judiciary.