Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer shakes arms with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky throughout a bilateral assembly in central London on March 1, 2025 forward of a European chief’s summit the next day. Agence France-Presse
LONDON — UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday gave Volodymyr Zelensky a heat welcome in London, a day after the Ukrainian chief’s conflict with US President Donald Trump.
And forward of Sunday’s summit in London to debate the best way to help Ukraine because it battles Russia’s invading forces, Starmer reiterated his help for Kyiv.
“In partnership with our allies, we should intensify our preparations for the European factor of safety ensures alongside continued discussions with america,” he mentioned in a press release issued late Saturday.
READ: UK able to ship troops to Ukraine as European leaders to carry warfare talks
“Now’s the time for us to unite with a view to assure the very best consequence for Ukraine, defend European safety, and safe our collective future,” he added.
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Hours earlier, Ukraine and the UK unveiled a £2.26 billion ($2.84 billion) mortgage settlement to help Ukraine’s protection capabilities, to be paid again with the income of immobilized sovereign Russian belongings.
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“The funds will likely be directed towards weapons manufacturing in Ukraine,” Zelensky mentioned on X.
“That is true justice — the one who began the warfare should be the one to pay.”
READ: Zelensky gives to resign in change for Ukrainian NATO membership
Supporters cheered as Zelensky’s convoy swept into Downing Avenue, the place he was embraced by Starmer and posed for pictures earlier than heading contained in the British chief’s residence.
“You’re very, very welcome right here in Downing Avenue,” Starmer instructed Zelensky.
“I need to thanks, the individuals of the UK, for such huge help from the very starting of this warfare,” Zelensky responded.
He is because of meet King Charles III on Sunday.
The leaders met behind closed doorways for round 75 minutes, and embraced once more as Starmer escorted Zelensky to his automotive.
‘A brand new age of infamy’
Earlier Saturday Zelensky had pressured that Trump’s help was nonetheless “essential” for Ukraine regardless of their row the day past.
The conflict was an additional shock to Kyiv’s European allies, nonetheless adjusting to Washington’s new stance on the warfare.
On Friday as cameras within the Oval Workplace rolled, Trump berated Zelensky for not being “prepared” for peace with Russia, triggering alarm throughout Europe.
READ: Trump-Zelensky shouting match takes world leaders aback
“Yesterday night underlined {that a} new age of infamy has begun,” mentioned Germany’s Overseas Minister Annalena Baerbock.
Starmer, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and French President Emmanuel Macron have been amongst a number of different European leaders who reiterated their help for Kyiv after the row.
In an interview with the BBC, NATO chief Mark Rutte mentioned he had instructed Zelensky he needed to “discover a method” to revive his relationship with Trump.
Russian politicians have been delighted, nonetheless.
Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev referred to as Zelensky an “insolent pig” who had acquired “a correct slap down within the Oval Workplace”.
Though Zelensky left the White Home with out having signed the deal on Kyiv’s uncommon minerals, he insisted he was nonetheless able to signal it as “step one towards safety ensures”.
“It’s essential for us to have President Trump’s help. He needs to finish the warfare, however nobody needs peace greater than we do,” Zelensky posted on X.
Zelensky will likely be at Sunday’s emergency talks in London with Kyiv’s European backers — a gathering that may even be attended by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Starmer mentioned he would meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Sunday at Downing Avenue, earlier than the principle summit. In Rome, her workplace mentioned late Saturday that she had spoken with Trump by telephone to debate the London gathering.
Shouting match
Trump surprised many in Europe when he reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin to hunt a deal on Ukraine, which Moscow invaded three years in the past.
The Republican’s sudden shift — sidelining Kyiv and Europe whereas pursuing rapprochement with Putin — has rattled the transatlantic NATO alliance.
US President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky meet within the Oval Workplace of the White Home in Washington, DC, February 28, 2025. Agence France-Presse
These issues have been solely exacerbated by Friday’s White Home shouting match.
Through the televised conflict, Trump and Vice President JD Vance angrily accused Zelensky of not being “grateful” and refusing to simply accept their proposed truce phrases.
“You’re both going to make a deal or we’re out, and if we’re out, you’ll struggle it out and I don’t suppose it’s going to be fairly,” Trump mentioned.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva described the Oval Workplace uproar as “a grotesque and disrespectful scene”.
He added: “I feel that Zelensky was humiliated, I feel that in Trump’s thoughts Zelensky deserved it, I feel that the European Union was harmed by Zelensky’s speech.”
EU ‘independence’ from US
Trump has alarmed Kyiv and European allies together with his abrupt U-turn in US coverage, casting himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky and refusing to sentence the Russian invasion.
He mentioned within the Oval Workplace that he had “spoken on quite a few events” to Putin — greater than has been publicly reported.
READ: European allies rally behind Ukraine after White Home row
With fears rising over whether or not america will proceed to help NATO, Sunday’s gathering within the UK may even deal with the necessity for Europe to extend protection cooperation.
France’s Macron has mentioned he is able to “open the dialogue” on a doable future European nuclear deterrent.
“We now have a protect, they don’t,” he mentioned in an interview with French newspapers showing Sunday. “And so they can now not rely on the American nuclear deterrent.”
France and Britain are the one Western European international locations with a nuclear arsenal.
Germany’s seemingly subsequent chief, Friedrich Merz, additionally pressured the necessity for the continent to maneuver shortly to “obtain independence” from america on protection issues.
However Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — the closest ally of Trump and the Kremlin within the European Union — vowed to oppose any EU-wide settlement on the battle.
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“I’m satisfied that the European Union — following the instance of america — ought to enter into direct discussions with Russia on a ceasefire and a sustainable peace in Ukraine,” Orban wrote in a letter.
