After the heated row with Trump, who threatened to stop support for Ukraine after accusing Zelenskiy of being ungrateful for U.S. aid, the Ukrainian leader flew from Washington to London on Saturday to be greeted with a warm hug from Starmer.
That meant Europe moving faster than it has done to show it can defend itself, Starmer said, adding he was not criticising other nations but making it clear that countries needed to step up as Britain and France had by offering peacekeeping troops.
“The UK and France are the most advanced on the thinking of this and that is why President Macron and I are working on this plan, which we will then discuss with the U.S.,“ he said, adding he did not think Zelenskiy had done anything wrong on Friday.
Starmer will ask leaders how they can step up to provide Kyiv with aid before any peace talks begin, given that many are struggling with limited public finances.
Starmer is trying to revive a possible peace deal with Russia by convincing Trump that Europe can step up to defend itself. Some leaders might also encourage Zelenskiy to go back into talks with the U.S. leader.
At a meeting that has taken on added significance, Starmer will start Sunday by holding talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni after welcoming Zelenskiy on Saturday with a clear message of support for a visibly shaken leader.
BAD END TO GOOD WEEK
Both had pressed the U.S. leader to offer what is known as “a backstop” to a potential European peacekeeping force in the event of a deal between Kyiv and Moscow. While they had failed to secure a promise from Trump, he had not rejected the idea.
Sunday’s meeting is a boost for Starmer, whose team felt his meeting with Trump last week had gone better than expected with Trump praising the British leader and even suggesting Ukraine could regain some lost territory in peace talks.
Meloni has also called for an emergency summit involving the United States, European nations and allies to discuss how “to deal with the great challenges of today, starting with Ukraine”.
That would mean persuading Washington to offer a backstop, possibly in the form of air cover, intelligence and surveillance and a greater as yet unspecified threat if Putin again sought to take more territory.
For now, Starmer wants to lower the temperature after the row in Trump’s Oval Office.
Nils Schmid, foreign policy spokesperson for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, told Reuters on Saturday that Europe needed to maintain its contacts with Trump.
“Generally speaking, we don’t know where Trump will stand on all these issues in three or six months’ time,“ he said.
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