Sir Keir Starmer welcomed Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky to Downing Street this morning ahead of US President Donald Trump’s crunch summit with Vladimir Putin.
The Prime Minister and Mr Zelensky met in No10 as both leaders brace themselves for the outcome of the US President’s talks with the Russian leader.
There are concerns in Kyiv, London and other European capitals that Mr Trump might attempt to cede Ukrainian territory to Russia as part of a ceasefire deal.
Those fears were compounded by reports that Russia and the US have discussed a model for ending the war in Ukraine that mirrors Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
Mr Trump has suggested a peace deal could include ‘land-swapping’, although he also vowed to ‘try to get back’ some of Ukraine’s ‘oceanfront property’ from Russia.
Sir Keir and Mr Zelensky’s talks on Thursday followed an emergency virtual summit between European leaders and the US President yesterday.
As well as Sir Keir, Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky, Wednesday’s call also included the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland, and EU and NATO officials.
Speaking afterwards, Sir Keir praised the US President for his work to bring forward a ‘viable’ chance of an end to the war.
Sir Keir Starmer welcomed Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky to Downing Street this morning ahead of US President Donald Trump’s crunch summit with Vladimir Putin
The Prime Minister and Mr Zelensky met in No10 as both leaders brace themselves for the outcome of the US President’s talks with the Russian leader
But the PM also warned that ‘borders must not be changed by force’ as he pledged his ‘unwavering’ support for Ukraine.
Both Sir Keir and Mr Trump threatened further sanctions on Russia ahead of Mr Putin’s visit to Alaska.
The PM said the UK is ready ‘to increase pressure on Russia’, while the US President said Mr Putin would face ‘severe consequences’ if he fails to agree to peace.
Mr Trump, speaking on Wednesday, added he is hopeful that his talks with the Russian leader could lead to a second trilateral summit involving Mr Zelensky.
But he cautioned: ‘There may be no second meeting.
‘Because if I feel that it’s not appropriate to have it because I didn’t get the answers that we have to have, then we are not going to have a second meeting.’
The PM and some of his European counterparts joined a call on Wednesday with the US President and Mr Zelensky
There are concerns in Kyiv, London and other European capitals that Mr Trump might attempt to cede Ukrainian territory to Russia as part of a ceasefire deal
Mr Zelensky revealed how he told Mr Trump that Mr Putin is ‘bluffing’ about his desire to end the war
According to The Times, Russia and the US have discussed a West Bank-style settlement for ending the war in Ukraine in recent talks.
The idea was raised weeks ago in discussions between Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s peace envoy, and his Russian counterparts, the newspaper reported.
Such a plan would see Russia have military and economic control of occupied Ukraine under its own governing body, imitating Israel’s de facto rule of Palestinian territory seized from Jordan in 1967.
Mr Trump has previously suggested a truce could involve some ‘swapping’ of land.
It is believed one of Mr Putin’s demands is for Ukraine to cede parts of the Donbas region which it still controls.
But Mr Zelensky has already rejected any proposal that would compromise Ukraine’s territorial integrity, something that is forbidden by the country’s constitution.
A joint statement from Ukrainian allies – known as the ‘coalition of the willing’ and co-chaired by Sir Keir, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz – said ‘international borders must not be changed by force’.
It added: ‘Sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia’s war economy should be strengthened if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire in Alaska.’
The coalition of the willing is a European-led effort to send a peacekeeping force to Ukraine in the event of truce.
Mr Trump was reported to have used Wednesday’s call to tell European leaders that he is willing to contribute security guarantees for Ukraine with some conditions.
The US President is said to have warned he would only make such a commitment if the effort is not part of NATO.
In his own comments following Wednesday’s call, Mr Zelensky revealed how he told Mr Trump that Mr Putin is ‘bluffing’ about his desire to end the war.
‘I told the US President and all our European colleagues that Putin is bluffing,’ the Ukrainian President said.
‘He is trying to apply pressure before the meeting in Alaska along all parts of the Ukrainian front. Russia is trying to show that it can occupy all of Ukraine.’
