Panicking Nigel Farage has been accused of "desperately trying to backtrack" on his comments about Russia after calling Vladimir Putin a "very bad dude".

The Reform UK leader used an interview on Thursday night to say it was "nonsense" that he's soft on Russia.

The rightwing politician has faced fierce criticism over his stance on the Ukraine war, including for having said Putin is the statesman he most admires.

In an apparent attempt to try to squash accusations that he cannot be trusted with Britain's national security, Mr Farage backed shooting down Russian jets that enter NATO airspace and spending frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine.

He told Bloomberg's The Mishal Husain Show: "Clearly, Putin is not a rational man. The idea that I'm soft on this is just nonsense."

He added: "Obviously, Putin is a very bad dude. I was really hoping that 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."

But the Clacton MP also repeated arguments that the West provoked the war in Ukraine, saying that "the endless eastward expansion of NATO and the European Union " contributed to Putin's decision to invade.

Reform has come under pressure after Nathan Gill, the party's former leader in Wales, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes in exchange for making pro-Russian statements while he was a member of the European Parliament.

Mr Farage said: "We had a bad apple in this bloke? Yes. I believe, 100%, with all my heart, there's nobody else."

Labour chair Anna Turley said: "Having called Vladimir Putin the leader he most admired, and with his close associate and former Reform Leader in Wales having admitted taking bribes to praise Russia, Nigel Farage is now panicking and desperately trying to backtrack. But he can't help himself. He's still peddling the Russian line on their illegal invasion of Ukraine being the fault of the West.

"That's not true, and it shows Reform can't be trusted to stand up for our national security or for our Ukrainian allies. Putin doesn't have to pay Nigel Farage to spout Russian talking points - he does it for free."

Keir Starmer has previously accused Mr Farage of "fawning over Putin". Defence Secretary John Healey warned last month that Mr Farage could not be trusted with Britain's national security, accusing him and his party of "looking up to" Mr Putin.

In a 2014 interview with GQ magazine, Mr Farage, when asked which current world leader he most admired, replied: "As an operator, but not as a human being, I would say Putin.

"The way he played the whole Syria thing. Brilliant. Not that I approve of him politically. How many journalists in jail now?"

'Desperate' Nigel Farage 'backtracks' with three-word Putin description - The Mirror