LONDON — Nigel Farage called Vladimir Putin a “very bad dude” as he significantly toughened his language on Russia.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Farage — whose populist Reform UK party is surging in the polls — expressed frustration that the Russian leader had not ended his war in Ukraine.

“Obviously, Putin is a very bad dude,” Farage said. “I was really hoping that [Donald] Trump would bring Putin to heel, that some kind of compromise could be struck, as it’s just been recently struck with Gaza and Israel. Clearly, that is not going to happen.”

The Reform UK head has been criticized by his political rivals in the U.K. over previous comments on Russia. During last year’s general election campaign, Farage said the West “provoked” Putin’s invasion of Ukraine through the eastward expansion of the NATO military alliance.

Farage rejected accusations he was weak on foreign policy. “Clearly, Putin is not a rational man,” he said. “The idea that I’m soft on this is just nonsense.”

The Reform UK leader also said NATO nations had “gotta shoot” down Moscow planes flying into allied airspace, and backed using frozen Russian assets to support Kyiv’s fight back against Putin’s army.

Though hesitant about putting British troops on the ground to maintain a ceasefire — as Prime Minister Keir Starmer has advocated through his “coalition of the willing” idea for a post-peace deal Ukraine — Farage said he “might put a U.N. force, think about a Korean approach to it” were he in power.

Starmer’s governing Labour Party has tried to paint Farage as soft on Russia, with the prime minister accusing him of “fawning over Putin” earlier this year.