British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy voiced "strong resolve” for peace in Ukraine and said there is a viable path to a cease-fire, ahead of high-stakes talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Meeting in London on Wednesday, the two leaders expressed cautious optimism, with Starmer’s office stressing that any truce depends on Putin taking "concrete steps” to prove he is serious about ending the war.
Zelenskyy, in a separate statement, said discussions focused on the security guarantees needed to make any deal "truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killing.”
Starmer hosted Zelenskyy for a private breakfast at No. 10 Downing Street on Thursday, as Europe braces for the Trump-Putin meeting set for Friday in Alaska – a rare direct encounter that could reshape the war’s trajectory.
European leaders are hopeful about the potential for a peace deal after a joint call with Trump on Wednesday, during which he reportedly told them his goal for the summit was to secure a cease-fire. But concerns linger over the prospect of Kyiv being excluded from negotiations over its own future and pressured to cede territory, after the U.S. leader suggested any agreement may need to involve a "swapping of land.” Ukraine has already rejected any proposal that would compromise its borders.
In a readout of the morning meeting between Starmer and Zelenskyy, a Downing Street spokesman said: "They had a private breakfast, where they discussed yesterday’s meetings. They agreed there had been a powerful sense of unity and a strong resolve to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”
On Wednesday, Starmer co-chaired a virtual meeting of the "coalition of the willing” – a European-led effort to send a peacekeeping force to Ukraine to monitor any deal – where he said there was a "viable” chance of a truce. Downing Street repeated that language on Thursday, with the caveat that it would require the Russian president to take "action to prove he is serious about peace.”
"(Starmer and Zelenskyy) agreed to stay in close touch in the coming days,” the readout said.
The Ukrainian president, who was warmly embraced by the prime minister and welcomed with a red carpet on arrival at Downing Street, said the meeting had been "good” and "productive.” But he urged the U.K. to join NATO’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative to provide weapons to Kyiv.
"It is important that, within the framework of the coalition of the willing, we should all be able to achieve effective formats for security cooperation,” he said. "We also discussed the continuation of support programs for our army and our defense industry. Under any scenario, Ukraine will maintain its strength. Keir and I also talked about such mechanisms for weapons supplies as the PURL program, and I urged the U.K. to join.”
Further sanctions could be imposed on Russia should the Kremlin fail to engage, Zelenskyy said, adding that the U.K. is already working on its next package of measures targeting Moscow.
"We’re ready to support this, including from the plans we’ve already drawn up to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased,” Starmer told allies on Wednesday. "It is important to remind colleagues that we do stand ready also to increase pressure on Russia, particularly on the economy, with sanctions and wider measures as may be necessary.”