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Sir Keir Starmer is set to host key talks of the ‘coalition of the willing’
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Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived at Downing Street to meet Sir Keir Starmer in an effort to push for long range missiles.
The Ukrainian president will try to persuade the so-called “coalition of the willing” of the need for powerful weapons that can strike deep inside Russia.
In the meeting, the group is also expected to discuss ways of helping protect Ukraine’s power grid from Russia’s almost daily drone and missiles attacks as winter approaches, and how to enhance Ukrainian air defences.
Zelensky was met with a ceremonial welcome in Windsor earlier on Friday as he greeted King Charles.
It comes after US President Donald Trump said he was reluctant to provide Kyiv with the Tomahawk missiles in exchange for Ukrainian drones when the leaders met at the White House last week.
The EU also failed to agree a deal to back Ukraine with the help of frozen Russian assets valued at €140bn ($163.2bn).
The proposed loan would have met Ukraine‘s “pressing financial needs” and propped up its war-ravaged economy for the next two years, but could not be agreed due to legal concerns raised by Belgium.
Nato chief Mark Rutte has been greeted by Keir Starmer as he arrived at the Foreign Office in London for this afternoon’s Ukraine summit.
Zelensky is meeting with foreign secretary Yvette Cooper ahead of talks with the “coalition of the willing”
In a post on X, Ms Cooper wrote: “Pleasure to host @ZelenskyyUa today, ahead of his meeting with Coalition of the Willing leaders.
“This week the US and the EU followed the UK’s lead, to ramp up the pressure on Putin by targeting Russia’s energy sector. Together, we will build on this momentum.”
Downing Street rejected suggestions there had been a shift in focus for the so-called “coalition of the willing”.
Asked whether attention had moved away from planning for a future peacekeeping force towards the current defence position in Ukraine, a No 10 spokesman said: “No, that focus absolutely remains, and in discussions today what the coalition will be doing, as I’m saying, as I’ve said, is discussing how, going into winter, we continue to ratchet up that pressure on Putin.
“You’ve clearly seen consistently, from all members, increasing pressure on Putin through sanctions.”
Zelensky and Starmer have now crossed the road from No 10 and entered the Foreign Office, where key talks are set to take place.
The pair were greeted by children waving Ukrainian flags.
President Zelensky has arrived at Downing Street for a one-on-one meeting with Sir Keir Starmer ahead of bilateral talks this afternoon.
The two leaders spoke briefly to the media beforehand.
Sir Keir Starmer said “huge steps forward” had been taken this week to support Ukraine but there was “further we can do” on long-range capability as he described the UK as Kyiv’s “closest supporter and ally.”
The prime minister said: “Volodymyr, it’s really good to be able to welcome you here in Downing Street again for a really important meeting between the two of us, bilaterally, but also for the coalition of the willing.”
He added: “Through seeing His Majesty, through our meeting and through the coalition of the willing, we reaffirm again our support for you and Ukraine and our absolute commitment to meeting the challenge of Russian aggression.
“And whilst you have signalled the path for a way forward and shown that willingness of courage and determination, what we see from Putin is an absolute unwillingness to engage, in fact, the opposite, which is the continued attacks increasingly on civilians and on children and sadly I have to offer you my condolences again, as I did the last time we met and the time before, for those terrible losses.
“I do think that this week we can really bear down on Russian oil and gas. Huge steps forward this week already.
“I think there’s further we can do on capability, particularly… long-range capability, and of course, the vital work for coalition of the willing when it comes to the security guarantees that are necessary.
“So we’ve got really important business to go through with the coalition of the willing today, but it’s very good to be able to welcome you back.”
Sir Keir said: “We stand, as we’ve always stood, as your closest supporter and ally.”
A man detonated an explosive device as border guards checked documents at a railway station in northern Ukraine on Friday, killing himself and three women, the State Border Guard Service said.
It said in a statement that 12 other people were hurt in the blast at the station in Ovruch, close to the border with Belarus, and that a border guard was among the dead, who were aged 29, 58 and 82.
The man who detonated the explosive device was a 23-year-old resident of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine who had recently been detained for trying to cross the border, it said. It made no mention of any link with Russia’s war in Ukraine.
President Zelensky thanked the UK for its support and said Vladimir Putin was pushing Ukraine towards “humanitarian disaster” as he arrived at Downing Street this afternoon.
The two leaders embraced outside No 10 before making a few comments ahead of a bilateral meeting later.
The Ukrainian president said: “Yes, I agree with you and know that Putin doesn’t show that he wants to stop the war.”
He said Russian aggression was “pushing us with such humanitarian disaster” with attacks targeting infrastructure including Ukraine’s energy sector.
“We’re thankful to you that we are not alone in this situation – from the very beginning of war but especially now, it’s very important.”
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to meet his Russian counterpart on Saturday, according to an Axios report.
Volodymyr Zelensky and Sir Keir Starmer are expected to be joined at the Foreign Office in London by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof.
About 20 other leaders are to join via video link in the meeting of the group dubbed the Coalition of the Willing.
Details of a potential future “reassurance force” for Ukrainian security are scant, and the London meeting seeks to further develop the idea — even though any peace agreement appears at the moment to be only a distant possibility.
The force is likely to consist of air and naval support rather than Western troops deployed in Ukraine, according to officials. U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey says it would be “a force to help secure the skies, secure the seas, a force to help train Ukrainian forces to defend their nation.”
Its headquarters is expected to rotate between Paris and London for 12-month periods.
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