British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in London Thursday morning, the latest meeting between the Ukrainian leader and the head of a European country as the continent braces for a critical US-Russia summit in Alaska on Friday.
Zelenskyy’s trip to the British capital comes a day after he took part in virtual meetings from Berlin with US President Donald Trump and the leaders of several European countries, reports AP. Those leaders said Trump had assured them he would make a priority of trying to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Anchorage.
Both Zelenskyy and the Europeans have worried the bilateral US-Russia summit would leave them and their interests sidelined, and that any conclusions reached could favor Moscow and leave Ukraine and Europe’s future security in jeopardy with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine now in its fourth year.
Yet some of those leaders, like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, praised Wednesday’s video conference with Trump as constructive. Speaking after the meetings to reporters, Trump warned of “very severe consequences” for Russia if Putin does not agree to stop the war against Ukraine after their Friday meeting.
Starmer on Wednesday said the Alaska summit would be “hugely important,” and could be a “viable” path to a ceasefire in Ukraine. But he also alluded to European concerns that Trump may strike a deal that forces Ukraine to cede territory to Russia, and warned that Western allies must be prepared to step up pressure on Russia if necessary.
During a call Wednesday among leaders of countries involved in the “coalition of the willing” — those who are prepared to help police any future peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv — Starmer stressed that any deal reached on bringing the fighting to an end must protect the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine.
“International borders cannot be, and must not be changed by force, and again that’s a long-standing principle of this group,’’ he said. “And alongside that, any talk about borders, diplomacy, ceasefire has to sit alongside a robust and credible security guarantee to ensure that any peace, if there is peace, is lasting peace and Ukraine can defend its territorial integrity as part of any deal.”
However, with another high-level meeting on their country’s future on the horizon, some Ukrainians expressed skepticism that any breakthroughs would be achieved during Friday’s US-Russia summit.