The UK’s former chief of defence staff slammed Donald Trump last night, saying it’s clear he “needs to be educated” on history.

Speaking on BBC Question Time, General Sir Nick Carter – who was Britain’s highest ranking military officer from 2018 to 2021 – recalled how the US president’s knowledge of the past is “somewhat limited”.

Carter warned it’s “extremely difficult” to see how the west could ever negotiate a sustainable peace for Ukraine without awareness of Russia’s imperial history.

After just a month in office, Trump is trying to negotiate a peace deal to end Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine – but he appears to be offering more concessions to Vladimir Putin than to Kyiv.

This has sparked fears that any truce will not deter the Russian leader from pursuing other land grabs across Europe in the future.

Discussing Trump’s recent attacks on Ukraine – and his warmth towards Moscow – Carter said: “I had the privilege of looking after Donald Trump at the D-Day commemorations in 2019 for some half an hour or so and it became very obvious to me that his understanding of history was somewhat limited.”

He continued: “He really does need to be educated on the historic history of what we’re looking at here, because without that it is extremely difficult to see how we could ever get into a position where we could negotiate peace that is reasonable and secure for the Ukrainian people.”

The former chief of defence staff also expressed concerns about Trump’s tactics after the US president claimed Putin holds all “the cards”. 

“I worry that he’s put all of his negotiating chips on the table already,” Carter said.

Trump and his team have already suggested giving into Moscow’s demands of forcing Ukraine to forgo any Nato ambitions and have promised not to US boots on the grounds.

US officials have also hinted that Ukraine may have cede its occupied territory to Russia – that would work out to a fifth of Ukraine’s total land mass.

“These are all powerful arguments in a negotiation,” Carter said, before pointing to Trump’s reputation as a businessman, adding: “I wonder whether he’d still be on his Apprentice programme if he was the man doing the deal.”

Carter took aim at Trump’s attacks on Europe and Zelenskyy, whom he has falsely called a “dictator” and blamed for starting the war.

“People have been saying that he’s been treating his allies like enemies,” Carter said. “And I think many of us are deeply uncomfortable about some of the rhetoric that’s been emerging from Washington at the moment.

“I also profoundly agree that if you go back to Winston Churchill’s observation that there’s only one thing that’s worse than fighting alongside allies – it’s fighting without allies. I think he needs to remember that.”