British defence experts fear US has ‘changed sides’ to give Putin a victory that will destroy Nato and trigger the start of a Russian-led New World Order

Defence experts – including a former British spymaster – fear America is turning its back on its Western allies to side with Putin, in a power shift that could tear the Nato alliance apart and trigger a ‘new world order’. 

Senior academics claim America has simply ‘changed sides’ as Donald Trump seeks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine as rapidly as possible. 

It comes after the US President branded Ukrainian leader Zelensky a ‘dictator’ and falsely claimed Ukraine started the war, in a widely condemned outburst that led to accusation’s Trump’s administration was spouting ‘Kremlin propaganda’. 

Expressing their fear over the ‘astonishing line of rhetoric’, former British military commanders have hit back, branding the President’s comments ‘deeply irresponsible and utterly wrong’.

One, a Parachute Regiment Major who completed three tours of Afghanistan including one as part of the US Special Forces, even went as far as calling the US a ‘malign actor’ which Europe ‘can’t consider… an ally anymore.’

Concerns deepened last night when the US joined Russia, North Korea and Belarus to vote against a UN resolution condemning Russia for the Ukraine war. The shock move flew in the face of Nato allies, including Britain, Canada, France, Italy and Germany, who backed the vote, and reflected Trump’s growing union with Vladimir Putin.

Britain’s former Armed Forces Minister, James Heappey, yesterday said ‘unthinkable conversations’ would be raging in Whitehall over the split, adding: ‘I can’t actually believe some of what is happening at the moment… we really are living through a pivotal moment in global affairs with a new world order being forged in front of our eyes.’

Professor Michael Clarke, a former director-general of the widely respected Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), warned: ‘It looks as if the US has simply changed sides and wants to give Putin a victory that the Russians couldn’t have dreamt of six months ago.’

Kings College fellow Prof Clarke told Sky News the recent stance taken by Trump and his senior leadership appeared to be at odds with views a year ago.  

The comments echoed similar claims from British military veterans. 

Former Parachute Regiment commander, Major Andrew Fox, said everything Trump has been suggesting in recent weeks is ‘straight out of Vladimir Putin’s playlist’.

‘The United States is a malign actor. We can’t consider it to be an ally anymore. They are actively making the world a more dangerous and less safe place,’ the veteran Army officer told podcast, Defence On The Brink.

He claimed the seeming shift towards closer ties between the White House and the Kremlin was a ‘seismic moment’ in history and one that would have ‘huge ramifications’ for the Nato alliance. 

‘History will be incredibly damning towards Mr Trump in everything that he seems to do, in aligning himself with some of the world’s worst dictators,’ added Maj Fox, who is a senior lecturer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst where the UK’s future Army officers are trained.

‘Everything Trump seems to be recommending is straight out of Putin’s wish list and removing President Zelensky and replacing him with a Russian-facing regime in Kyiv would be a dream come true for Mr Putin.

‘It’s an astonishing line of rhetoric, deeply irresponsible, utterly wrong and it underlines how unfit Trump is to be president.’

President Trump branded Zelensky a dictator after the Ukrainian leader suspended parliamentary elections following Russia’s February 24 invasion in 2022, as he indicated Ukrainian elections would be needed as part of any peace deal.

However, on Sunday Zelensky revealed he was ready and willing to give up the Ukrainian presidency if doing so delivered peace and Nato protection. 

The surprise declaration was made in a press conference ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Monday. 

Speaking to MailOnline, Colonel Philip Ingram feared Trump’s stance on Ukraine indicated the president’s administration may have been ‘compromised’ by the Kremlin. 

It followed a strange series of events in November, which Col Ingram fears may be linked. 

The Washington Post reported Trump had spoken on the phone with the Russian Tyrant on November 8, citing sources close to the President.

It was claimed that Mr Trump urged the Russian premier not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of ‘Washington’s sizeable military presence in Europe’, the Post reported. 

The newspaper went on to say Trump had expressed an interest in a follow-up conversation to discuss the ‘resolution of Ukraine’s war soon’.

However, the Kremlin denied media reports of any call between Putin and Trump in a statement on November 11, with a spokesman branding it ‘pure fiction’, while Trump’s team said it would not comment on the President’s ‘private calls’. 

Shortly after the disputed calls, nude images of Melania Trump were shared on primetime Russian TV as it congratulated her husband for his US presidential win.

The pictures, shown on November 8 on the 60 Minutes programme on the Russia -1 network, the most watched channel in the country – sparked outrage.

They were aired while the show’s presenters Yevgeny Popov and Olga Skabeyeva discussed the Ukraine war, and featured a number of photos of Melania from her modelling days including nude images from GQ taken in 2000.

Col Ingram, a former officer in British military intelligence, claimed the curious series of events could have pointed at a potential tactic by Putin to intimidate Mr Trump.

‘I would suggest there was a conversation.. but it didn’t go the way Putin wanted it to go and Putin – as an old KGB intelligence officer – sought to threaten Trump with compromising material of his wife,’ the veteran spymaster told MailOnline.

‘That’s the only logical explanation on why Trump changed his mind so much.’

Col Ingram added Mr Trump calling Zelensky a dictator my simply have been a ‘petulant’ retort over the Ukrainian’s outburst over America’s involvement in early peace talks with Russia without Kyiv. 

‘It could be something as simple as complete petulance over Zelensky not signing an agreement to hand over Ukraine’s rare minerals supply to Trump,’ he said. 

But he continued: ‘Trump is coming across as a maligned actor. 

‘One thing that Trump’s team has done, which is positive, is getting Europe to wake up. It can’t rely on America to provide all the defence.’

MailOnline has put all the comments to the White House.  

Last night’s UN resolution saw 93 countries supporting the joint European resolution that named Russia an aggressor state and called on it to remove its troops from Ukraine, while 18 countries including the US and Russia voted against.

The vote came as Trump met with Emmanuel Macron at the White House on Monday and the two spoke with G7 leaders to discuss peace talks to end the war and the growing gulf between Washington and European capitals over the future of the Nato alliance. 

Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, warned this weekend that Europe should look for greater independence from America and said it was an ‘absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe as quickly as possible so that, step by step, we can really achieve independence from the USA’. 

Ahead of the UN resolution vote, leaders from across the West gathered in Kyiv to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine.  

Hours earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had called on world leaders to ‘defend democracy’ in Ukraine. 

‘Let us be frank,’ he said, addressing Volodymyr Zelenskyy directly during a summit in Kyiv to mark the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion. 

‘You and the Ukrainian people should never have had to endure a single day of this unjustified, brutal war, let alone 1,096 of them.’

‘This is not a conflict Ukraine wanted, provoked or asked for in any way,’ Trudeau added.

‘This is a war started for one reason and one reason only – Russia’s desire to erase Ukrainian history and expand their empire.’

Last night Mr Trump and Mr Macron awkwardly shook hands as they met in Washington DC to discuss a possible end to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The duo’s uncomfortable ‘death clasp’ handshakes have gone viral over the years, with footage from 2017 showing the two leaders locking hands for 29 seconds straight.

First meeting outside the White House for a press conference on Monday afternoon, the pair gripped onto each other for an excruciating 12 seconds as they reunited and posed for photos.

The second awkward encounter took place inside Trump’s Oval Office, when the US President shouted over the French leader and placed his hand on his leg, resulting in Macron turning the physical contact into another handshake.

Sitting alongside the French president, Trump said Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky would visit the White House this week or next to conclude a deal to share the war-torn country’s natural resources.

Later, the third uncomfortable shake of the day happened during a news conference, which appeared to show Trump oddly twisting Macron’s arm before they locked fists and faced the audience.

As they met, the prospect of thousands of UK troops deploying to Ukraine was a step closer last night amid a warning from Donald Trump that the conflict could ‘escalate into a Third World War’ due to the ‘involvement from other countries’, the Sun reports.

Previously, the Kremlin has insisted no personnel from Nato member states could join a post-peace deal stabilisation force. But speaking at the White House yesterday after Macron’s visit, President Trump said: ‘I specifically asked him [Vladimir Putin about peacekeepers] that question. He has no problem with it.’

If confirmed by Russia, the move would represent the Kremlin’s first concession since talks began.

Sir Keir Starmer is also set to meet Trump on Thursday, but in a suggestion Britain may not escape tariffs, the US president said he would go ahead with ‘reciprocal’ US charges of 20 per cent to match the EU’s VAT rate.

Posting on X last night, former Tory Armed Forces Minister James Heappey warned the ‘stakes’ of the PM’s upcoming meeting with the US leader ‘could not be higher’. 

‘For 80 years, UK grand strategy has been pretty straight forward – maintain UK/US Special Relationship at (almost) any cost. Frankly, we have little choice but to continue on that path – what we share both in values & secrets can’t be undone in a single presidential term,’ he wrote. 

‘But some hitherto unthinkable conversations will be happening in Whitehall at the moment and the stakes could not be higher for Macron and Starmer’s visits to Washington.’ 

In an interview with Fox News following their meeting, Macron also said it was ‘feasible’ to expect peace ‘within weeks’.

On Tuesday, the Sir Keir Starmer announced Britain would spend billions more on defence, with the budget set to rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027. This would mean an extra £13.4billion a year from 2027, the PM told MPs in the House of Commons. 

The development came as it emerged Mr Zelensky had furiously erupted at a senior member of Mr Trump’s administration over negotiation talks, leaving him trembling with fear.

Earlier this month, Trump dispatched his newly minted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Kyiv to present the Ukrainian leader with a deal exchanging some of Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth for security guarantees against future Russian attacks.

But upon reviewing the contract in detail, Zelensky and his aides discovered that there were no real security guarantees to be found.

Instead, the contract was reportedly more exploitative than the conditions imposed on Germany after the First World War. expecting Ukraine to relinquish huge quantities of oil, gas and mineral resources as a payment for US aid already provided.

Recalling the president’s fury, Ukrainian lawmakers claimed Zelensky’s bellows reverberated through the halls of Kyiv’s presidential palace as he laid into Bessent for expecting him to ‘sell his country’ to Washington.

‘He was very angry,’ a person present told the Financial Times, explaining how the gilded doors of Zelensky’s presidential office did nothing to stop those outside from hearing every word of the verbal beatdown.

Bessent was visibly shaken, his voice trembling as he delivered a stumbling statement to reporters moments after enduring the wrath of the Ukrainian President.

It comes as Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared Moscow would ‘stop hostilities only when negotiations produce a firm and sustainable result that suits the Russian Federation’.

Meanwhile, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov accused Europe and the UK of prolonging the fighting in response to a fresh package of sanctions levelled by Brussels.