Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelensky are united in their “strong resolve” to secure a just peace in Ukraine ahead of Friday’s summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
After a meeting at No 10, the prime minister and the Ukrainian president expressed cautious optimism about the prospect of a truce “as long as Putin takes action to prove he is serious” about ending the war, Downing Street said.
Trump and Putin are due to meet in Alaska prompting fears the pair will try to decide the end of the war themselves, leaving Ukraine excluded putting Europe’s future security in jeopardy.
As the world nervously awaits that meeting, the Russian president has dangled the idea that the talks could lead to Moscow and Washington reaching a deal on nuclear arms control.
After their private breakfast meeting, seen as a show of support for Kyiv, Downing Street said the two leaders “agreed there had been a powerful sense of unity and a strong resolve to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine”.
“They then looked ahead to tomorrow’s talks between President Trump and President Putin in Alaska, which present a viable chance to make progress as long as Putin takes action to prove he is serious about peace.”
As they entered Downing Street, Sir Keir embraced Zelensky in front of the cameras but the two refused to be drawn on whether Trump could be trusted.
It comes after Trump threatened “severe consequences” if Putin does not agree to peace in Ukraine, without specifying what these could be.
After his meeting with Sir Keir, Zelensky suggested he and the PM had war-gamed potential outcomes of the Trump-Putin summit.
“We continue to coordinate our positions,” he said in a post on X. “We discussed expectations for the meeting in Alaska and possible prospects. We also discussed in considerable detail the security guarantees that can make peace truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killings and engage in genuine, substantive diplomacy.”
He also urged Britain to join PURL- Nato’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List initiative, to provide weapons to Kyiv, following a report that the UK is to scale back plans for a military peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
Since the weekend, Europe has rallied behind Ukraine’s right to decide its own future, amid concerns over Mr Zelensky’s exclusion from Friday’s summit.
At the weekend, Mr Trump suggested a truce could involve some “swapping” of land.
But Mr Zelensky furiously rejected any proposal that would compromise Ukraine’s territorial integrity, something that is forbidden by the country’s constitution.
Putin is expected to use the summit to demand that Ukraine cede parts of the Donbas region, which it still controls.
The Kremlin said that meeting in Anchorage, Alaska will start at 11:30 am local time (8.30 pm UK time).
Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters that Trump and Putin will first sit down for a one-on-one meeting followed by a meeting between the two delegations, and then talks will continue over “a working breakfast.”
Following a meeting with his own top officials, Putin said in a short video released by the Kremlin on Thursday that the Trump administration was making “quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities” and to “reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved.”
Putin also suggested that “long-term conditions of peace between our countries, and in Europe, and in the world as a whole,” could be reached under an agreement with the U.S. on nuclear arms control.
In Washington, Trump said there was a 25% chance that the summit would fail, but he also floated the idea that, if the meeting succeeds, he could bring Zelensky to Alaska for a subsequent, three-way meeting and that he might be willing to stay in Alaska longer, depending on what happens with Putin.