Starmer to host Zelenskyy and EU leaders for Ukraine talks | Ukraine
Keir Starmer will host Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz for talks in Downing Street on Sunday to discuss support for Ukraine.
The Ukrainian leader will visit Britain with the French president and German chancellor after a week of escalating hostilities and Vladimir Putin’s rejection of Moscow’s offer of face-to-face talks about his war.
The three countries that met with the Ukrainian leader are some of Kiev’s staunchest allies. Britain and France are leading a “coalition of the willing” initiative to provide security guarantees to Ukraine as part of the peace process.
A large-scale Ukrainian drone strike targeting Russia’s second largest city, St Petersburg, on Saturday underlined Kiev’s growing ability to strike deep into Russia. No casualties were immediately reported.
Regional head Oleksandr Hanzha said that one person was killed and three people were injured as a result of Russian forces hitting three regions about 30 times with unmanned aerial vehicles and artillery in the Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine on Saturday.
On Friday, Putin rejected Zelensky’s offer for a face-to-face meeting about the four-year war, claiming he saw “no point” in the meeting.
Donald Trump said it would be “great” for the two to meet, but his attention was largely on talks with Iran.
On Wednesday, Starmer condemned Russia’s bombing of Ukraine in a phone call with Zelensky.
One person died and 15 people, including three children, were injured in Russia’s attack on Ukraine earlier this week; Kiev repelled hundreds of long-range drones launched by the enemy.
Ukraine hit an oil terminal in Russia’s Baltic port city of St Petersburg with long-range drones.
Last month, Starmer hailed a “generational improvement” in the UK’s defense relationship with Poland when he and his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk signed a new security agreement.
The UK prime minister said: “There is no greater challenge for any of our countries than Russia’s aggression, and we see this affecting our own countries, not just in Ukraine but beyond Ukraine.
“It is in this context that we are achieving a generational improvement in security and defense relations between our two countries.”
