Donald Trump has started a fresh war of words with Volodymyr Zelensky, questioning his competency and bizarrely claiming Ukraine started the conflict with Russia, which the US President said was “20 times” the size of its neighbour. Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office today: “The mistake was letting the war happen, if Biden were competent, and if Zelensky were competent, and I don’t know that he is, we had a rough session with this guy.

“He just kept asking for more and more, that war should have never been allowed to happen. That war, I went four years and Putin wouldn’t even bring it up."

He added: "And as soon as the election was rigged, and I wasn’t here, that war started. There was no way that war should have been allowed to happen, and Biden should have stopped it.”

When asked if he had spoken President Zelensky about his offer to buy more Patriot missiles, Trump added: “Listen, when you start a war, you got to know that you can win the war, right?"

He continued: "You don’t start a war against somebody that’s 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles.”

The President then said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “not an angel”, but suggested the invasion would never have happened under his leadership.

He told the press: “You take a look at Putin. I’m not saying anybody’s an angel. But I will tell you I went four years and it wasn’t even a question, he would never – and I told him, don’t do it, you’re not going to do it.

"And it [Ukraine] was the apple of his eye but there was no way that he would have done it.”

He added: “That’s a war that should never have been allowed to start. Biden could have stopped it and Zelensky could have stopped it and Putin should never have started it. Everybody’s to blame.”

It comes after President Zelensky invited Donald Trump to visit Ukraine before any peace deal is struck with Russia.

He told American network CBS: "Please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, hospitals, churches, children destroyed or dead."

In February, Mr Trump called the Ukrainian leader a "dictator" as he suggested the country should hold elections. He then seemingly attempted to repudiate this during the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer's visit to the White House later that month.

Presidents Zelensky and Trump then had a public spat in the Oval Office, with the Ukrainian leader leaving before a scheduled press conference and signing of a mineral deal.