The UK will take over negotiating the Ukraine peace plan from the US, Sir Keir Starmer has said, following the public bust-up in the Oval Office between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.
The UK and France are working together on a “plan to stop the fighting” – including the deployment of British troops and fighter jets – which will be agreed with the Ukrainian government before being presented to the US, the Prime Minister said.
Ukraine’s President was granted an audience with the King in a deliberate display of warmth – that had earlier included a hug with the Prime Minister outside Downing Street – in an overt show of solidarity.
But at the same time Peter Mandelson, Britain’s ambassador to Washington, urged Zelensky to sign a mineral deal with Trump – which remained unsigned after his ejection from the White House on Friday – and offer a ceasefire even if Russia does not.
The double move suggests that the UK believes it can now play an increasingly pivotal role in bringing the war to an end as other leading powers become alienated either from the US or from Ukraine.
Starmer told the BBC on Sunday: “We’ve now agreed that the United Kingdom, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting and then we’ll discuss that plan with the United States.”
Zelensky ready to sign US minerals deal – but won’t stand down except for Nato membership
President Zelensky said on Sunday that he remained ready to sign the proposed minerals deal with the United States and that he believed the US would be ready as well.
He also told Sky News that he had no plans to resign unless Ukraine is given Nato membership.
“I am exchangeable for Nato membership,” he said. “I have said that I am exchanging for Nato membership, then it means I have fulfilled my mission. Nato means I have fulfilled my mission.”
Zelensky said he believed he could salvage his relationship with President Trump after their explosive meeting in the Oval Office, but said talks needed to continue in a different format.
He also told reporters that he did not think the US would stop its assistance to Ukraine because, as “leaders of the civilised world,” they would not want to help Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, he said he remained prepared for any challenges that may arise.
“As regards to salvaging the relationship, I think our relationship will continue,” he told reporters via a translator after the London meeting.
But he added: “I do not think it’s right when such discussions are totally open. … The format of what happened, I don’t think it brought something positive or additional to us as partners.”
The proposal came together on Saturday when the Prime Minister spoke to Emmanuel Macron and to Trump, who was briefed on the plan before it was announced and is understood to have signalled that he is not opposed to it.
Speaking at the conclusion of a summit with European allies and Canada in London, Starmer promised to build a “coalition of the willing” and added: “Those willing will intensify planning now with real urgency.
“The UK is prepared to back this with boots on the ground and planes in the air, together with others. Europe must do the heavy lifting, but to support peace in our continent and to succeed this effort must have strong US backing. We’re working with the US on this point after my meeting with President Trump last week.”
He added that any plan would still need an ultimate backstop from America.
The announcement marks an attempt to reset the push for peace in Ukraine after it was apparently derailed by an open row in the Oval Office on Friday, where Vice President JD Vance accused Zelensky of not being grateful enough for US support and Trump said he was “gambling with World War Three”.
Starmer dismissed the suggestion that the US was an “unreliable ally”, but said he was trying to apply “momentum” to the peace efforts. He added: “I spoke to President Trump last night. I’m not going to go through the details of that conversation, but I would not be taking this step down this road if I didn’t think that it was something that would yield a positive outcome.”
Asked by The i Paper how he would convince Russia to sign up to any peace deal offered by the West, the Prime Minister replied: “We can’t approach this on the basis of Russia dictating the terms of any security guarantee before we have even got to a deal, otherwise we won’t make any progress at all.”
Nato chief Mark Rutte said: “It was a very good meeting because what you see is European countries stepping up, first of all to make sure that Ukraine has got what it needs to stay in the fight as long as it has to continue.”
He added: “Obviously, there is no deal yet, there is no ceasefire yet, but we have to prepare for that moment and making sure that European countries are willing to help out with the security guarantees. And here I really saw quite a number of countries, at this table, of course the initiative being taken by the United Kingdom and France, but others wanting to help, I think that’s important.”
A number of countries are expected to announce soon that they are increasing their defence spending in light of the increased global instability. Canada’s Justin Trudeau said: “It is now necessary for countries to be spending significantly more on defence… We understand we all need to do more, and we are busy doing more.”
Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, promised to “present a comprehensive plan to rearm Europe” at a summit in Brussels this week.
Trump state visit ‘will go ahead’
The UK Government is proceeding with plans for a second state visit by Donald Trump despite growing calls for the event to be scrapped.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer used his recent meeting with Trump in the White House to hand-deliver a letter from King Charles inviting the US President for a second state visit.
The monarch proposed that the pair meet in Scotland, where Trump has ancestral ties, at either Dumfries House or Balmoral Castle to discuss the logistics of the trip.
The invitation is a significant break from tradition, as previous US presidents have not been invited for a second state visit during their second term and usually only return for informal meetings.
Trump previously visited the UK on a state visit in 2019, hosted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Starmer hit back at calls for the visit to be cancelled, claiming his focus was on “bridge-building” and establishing “what are the relationships that I can mend and take forward to take us to lasting peace in Europe”.
“I’ve seen people ramping up the rhetoric and taking to Twitter and saying what they would do – good for them, I’m not that interested in that,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.
The SNP has led calls for the visit to be called off, with the party’s leader John Swinney also telling the BBC that it could not go ahead if Trump was “not a steadfast ally of ours in protecting the future of Ukraine”.
Calls to cancel the trip have also come from other quarters, with shadow minister Alicia Kearns writing on X: “State visits should be conferred to the most honourable of allies, not to curry favour.”
Starmer said he accepted that not every ally would be able to play an active part in the coalition to protect Ukraine, but added: “I strongly feel that unless some move forward, we will stay in the position we’re in and not be able to move forward.”
Macron is the other leader of a major country who has already committed to sending troops to enforce a future peace deal if needed, while the position of some others is unclear. The London meeting was attended by Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany who lost his bid for re-election last weekend but has not yet been formally replaced. Friedrich Merz, who is almost certain to take over, has not set out a detailed position on the next steps for Ukraine.
Giorgia Meloni of Italy said that “the UK and Italy can play an important role in bridge-building” as she met Starmer for one-on-one talks in Downing Street before the wider gathering.
Starmer hosted a summit of 18 world leaders, to discuss peace in Ukraine (Photo: Justin Tallis/Pool)
Speaking on US television on the same day, Mandelson urged Zelensky to commit to a ceasefire even before Vladimir Putin in an attempt to bounce the Russian leader into action.
The ambassador’s intervention suggests that the UK Government may be keen to put pressure on Ukraine’s President to compromise, despite the public shows of unconditional support.
Mandelson told the ABC network that a “very radical reset” was needed, adding: “The reset has to consist of the United States and Ukraine getting back on the same page, and President Zelensky giving his unequivocal backing to the initiative that President Trump is taking, to end the war and to bring a just and lasting peace to Ukraine.
“And the Europeans too, they need to back the cause for a ceasefire. And by the way, I think that Ukraine should be the first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow. And then as part of the unfolding plan for this negotiation, the Europeans, and perhaps some other countries too, have got to consider how they are going to put forces on the ground to play their part in providing enduring security and deterrence for Ukraine.”
He said that “the first thing that President Zelensky can do is to make clear his commitment to the initiative that President Trump is taking” and insisted that Ukraine would benefit from striking a deal for the US to exploit its minerals reserves.
Mandelson added: “It will also give the United States a stake in Ukraine’s future. It will mean that US commercial interest, US individual citizens will be on the ground there and that will be an even greater, added incentive for the US to protect Ukraine in future, make sure that war does not ensue again.”
Nato concerns after Musk weighs in
Concerns are growing over the future of Nato after Elon Musk, a close ally of Donald Trump, called for the US to leave the defence alliance.
His comments came amid growing tensions between the US and Europe after Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly clashed in the White House in recent days.
Trump accused Zelenskyy of “gambling with World War Three”, and the meeting ended without the pair striking a deal to exchange mineral rights for further US military support.
The US President has previously called for Nato allies to boost their defence spending, claiming that Europe has become too heavily reliant on US support.
In the wake of the clash, Musk, who has a senior role in Trump’s administration, reposted a message on X from Gunther Eagleman, a political commentator with 1.3 million followers, which called for the US to leave the UN and Nato. He added the comment: “I agree.”
But Starmer has insisted his “driving purpose” is to repair the rift in the Nato alliance through his meeting of world leaders on Sunday.
Commenting on the rift between Trump and Zelensky, Starmer said: “The important thing is how to react to that. There are a number of different routes people could go down. One is to ramp up the rhetoric as to how outraged we all are or not.”
He told the BBC: “The other is to do what I did, which is roll up my sleeves, pick up the phone, talk to President Trump, talk to President Zelensky, then invite President Zelensky for an extensive meeting yesterday, a warm welcome, and then further pick up the phone to President Macron and President Trump afterwards.
“My driving purpose has been to bridge this, if you like, and get us back to the central focus.”
