Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on Thursday, a symbolic show of unity on the eve of a high-stakes US–Russia summit from which Kyiv and its European allies have been excluded.
Starmer welcomed Zelensky with a handshake and embrace outside 10 Downing Street, only hours after the Ukrainian leader joined a virtual call with US President Donald Trump. The meeting came as Russian President Vladimir Putin prepared to travel to Alaska — his first visit to Western soil since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a war that has killed tens of thousands.
The Anchorage talks on Friday have sparked unease in Kyiv and European capitals, where officials fear Trump and Putin could negotiate a deal requiring painful concessions from Ukraine. Moscow has intensified its offensive in recent weeks, and Zelensky has not been invited to the meeting.
Starmer, however, struck a cautious note of optimism, saying there was now a “viable” chance for a ceasefire after more than three years of fighting. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte echoed that view, declaring: “The ball is now in Putin’s court.”
On the front lines, Ukraine launched dozens of drones overnight into southern Russia, wounding three people and igniting fires, including at an oil refinery in Volgograd. Kyiv described the strikes as proportionate retaliation for Moscow’s daily missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities.
Possibility of a Three-Way Meeting
Trump has said a follow-up summit with both Zelensky and Putin could be arranged “almost immediately” after Friday’s talks — but only if the first meeting “goes okay.” He also warned there may be no second meeting if Moscow fails to give “the answers that we have to have.”
Zelensky, publicly supportive of US diplomacy but privately sceptical, has rejected any settlement that involves ceding territory. “Putin definitely does not want peace,” he said after Wednesday’s discussions with European leaders, NATO, and the EU.
European officials insist they are prepared both to support a ceasefire and to tighten sanctions on Russia if talks falter. “For three and a bit years this conflict has been going, we haven’t got anywhere near… a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire,” Starmer told fellow leaders. “Now we do have that chance, because of the work that the US president has put in.”
