Donald Trump‘s Middle East envoy and key peace negotiator has mocked Keir Starmer‘s peacekeeping plan for Ukraine as ‘Churchill-like posing’ and praised Putin as ‘super-smart’.

Steve Witkoff, 68, criticised Britain and France‘s plan to send peacekeepers to Ukraine in order to prevent another Russian invasion if a ceasefire agreement is made.

The envoy said: ‘I think there’s this sort of notion of, we’ve all got to be like.’

Speaking to former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson on his YouTube channel, Mr Witkoff said peace could be achieved through diplomacy instead of fighting to the end.

One of Mr Witkoff’s key beliefs is that Putin has got what he wanted in Ukraine.

He said he thought it was ‘preposterous’ that Putin wanted to ‘march across Europe’ – despite the Russian leader saying he wanted to do exactly that.

Steve Witkoff, 68, criticised Britain and France ‘s plan to send peacekeepers to Ukraine in order to prevent another Russian invasion if a ceasefire agreement is made

Donald Trump ‘s Middle East envoy and key peace negotiator has mocked Keir Starmer ‘s peacekeeping plan for Ukraine as ‘Churchill-like posing’ and praised Putin as ‘super-smart’

Emmanuel Macron, Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials attend the European leaders’ summit to discuss European security and Ukraine, at Lancaster House in London on March 2

Putin has said he wishes to bring back the Russian Empire and roll back Nato from Eastern Europe to return Moscow’s influence to the Soviet-era.

Despite this, Witkoff said: ‘Why would they want to absorb Ukraine? For what purpose? They don’t need to absorb Ukraine.

‘They’ve gotten, they’ve reclaimed these five regions. They have Crimea, and they’ve gotten what they want. So why do they need more?

‘Putin is a very smart guy… He’s a super smart guy.’