The UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, and US Vice-President JD Vance held a meeting with Ukrainian and European partners at Chevening House in Kent to discuss the US-brokered peace plan for Ukraine. The meeting comes ahead of a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska next Friday.
The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, emphasized that any decisions made without Ukraine would be “dead decisions” and would not bring about peace. “Any decisions that are without Ukraine are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead decisions. They will never work,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
The leaders of the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, and Finland, along with the President of the EU Commission, released a joint statement declaring that the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine. “We welcome President Trump’s work to stop the killing in Ukraine, end the Russian Federation’s war of aggression, and achieve just and lasting peace and security for Ukraine,” they said.
The statement added that only an approach combining active diplomacy, support for Ukraine, and pressure on Russia can succeed. “We stand ready to support this work diplomatically as well as by upholding our substantive military and financial support to Ukraine,” the leaders said.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with Zelenskyy on Saturday morning, welcoming Trump’s efforts to bring an end to the war. “Both leaders welcomed President Trump’s desire to bring this barbaric war to an end and agreed that we must keep up the pressure on Putin to end his illegal war,” a No 10 spokesperson said.
Zelenskyy has been in communication with Trump and European leaders in recent days, emphasizing the importance of Ukraine’s involvement in any peace negotiations. “The path to peace for Ukraine should be determined together and only together with Ukraine, this is key principle,” he said in his evening address.
A White House official said that Trump is open to holding a trilateral summit with Putin and Zelenskyy in Alaska, but that the US is currently planning a bilateral meeting with Putin at the Russian president’s request. The summit would be the first between a US president and the Russian leader since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 .