Starmer and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, both undertook trips to the US this week, with the European leaders trying to persuade Trump to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any negotiated peace.
The US president is resisting calls to fully commit US military support to guarantee any Ukraine peace deal, but has suggested that closer economic ties and an agreement on mineral access between Kyiv and Washington would, in effect, act as a security “backstop”.
Keir Starmer will hold talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni in Downing Street on Sunday before a major London defence summit aimed at securing “lasting and enforced” peace in Ukraine.
But that peace deal has to come first and as you know the prime minister will meet President Zelensky before convening European leaders in London on Sunday to continue those discussions.
A Downing Street spokesperson said on Friday that “the UK has made it clear that we’ll play our full part in ensuring a just and lasting peace deal on Ukraine’s terms, backed up by strong security guarantees”.
