Donald Trump’s latest rage-fuelled outburst against Volodymyr Zelensky has betrayed his distinct lack of diplomatic knowledge, a body language expert has said.

The US President took to Truth Social today to claim his Ukrainian counterpart, with whom he had an explosive Oval Office row last week, had made the “worst statement that could have been made” following an emergency summit in London over the weekend. Mr Zelensky said he believed the war with Russia was “very, very far away”; a statement Mr Trump furiously rejected in a lengthy post.

The Commander-in-Chief’s statement later cast its gaze on the European leaders who had gathered in London for an emergency summit to assemble a “coalition of the willing” to help Ukraine. He asked what they were “thinking” in the angry post, but experts have questioned whether the President was thinking clearly when it was written.

Speaking to the Mirror, body language expert Judi James said the statement was not “traditionally presidential or statesmanlike” and even suggested a lack of “measured thought or assessment” was involved in its composition. She said: “This is not a traditionally presidential or statesmanlike tone.

“It reads more like transcribed speech that has been recorded verbatim with no corrections or tweaking to make it sound more measured. There is the personalised emotion of the exclamation mark and the catastrophised terms like ‘The worst’ to ramp up the drama rather than imply cool, measured thought or assessment.”

Ms James added in her summary that the post also appeared overly casual and as if he was speaking during one of his campaign rallies. She added: “It is close to the stream-of-consciousness style that Trump used in many of his rally speeches. ‘It is what I was saying…’ makes it sound as though it has come mid-chat.”

“He’s placed a capital P on peace and terms like ‘this guy’ and ‘what are they thinking’ add to the sense that this is a personal, casual message that has been fired off quickly and during a moment of emotion rather than one that has been composed to suggest measured diplomacy.”

The president’s strong criticism marks what appears to be more deterioration in relations between Kyiv and Washington, but it may not be the end for a minerals deal between Ukraine and the US that could set the stage for the end of the war. He teased on Monday he didn’t believe the deal was dead, and teased he’d have more to say on Tuesday, when he is due to deliver a major address to Congress.

Leading new stories from around the globe