To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has had more than his fair share of ‘very big weeks’ since Russia’s invasion in 2022.
But this week may prove to be among the most important.
Tomorrow, Donald Trump will meet Vladimir Putin in Alaska for what’s being described by the White House as a ‘listening exercise’ with the aim of laying groundwork for peace in Ukraine.
Leaders from across Europe were able to press the US President with their arguments for what terms would and would not be acceptable in a virtual call yesterday afternoon.
And this morning, Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed Zelensky to Downing Street for private talks.
A red carpet was rolled out for the leader’s arrival, and the PM greeted him with a warm hug outside the famous door before escorting him in.
Sign up to Metro’s politics newsletter, Alright Gov?
Craig Munro breaks down Westminster chaos into easy to follow insight, walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sent every Wednesday. Sign up here.
The pair met in the Downing Street garden, sitting on simple furniture beside a table with a vase holding flowers in the colours of Ukraine’s flag.
Zelensky headed out again around an hour later and got into a car further down the street.
In a post on X, he wrote that they spoke about ‘expectations for the meeting in Alaska and possible prospects’.
Among the other items he said were on the agenda were drone production, security guarantees offered by Europe, and the One Hundred Year Partnership signed in January.
The Ukrainian leader also revealed he ‘urged the UK to join’ Nato’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative which funds the package of US military support being sent to Ukraine.
No press conference is planned from the pair, so we may end up having to rely on a short description of the meeting from No 10 to learn what was discussed.
Both leaders are likely to be in a good mood after the Teams chat yesterday was described in glowing terms by both Europe and the US.
Immediately afterwards, Trump rated the meeting as ‘a ten’ and came out with strong words for Putin, saying the consequences would be ‘very severe’ if no ceasefire is agreed.
During the call, Starmer had praised the US President for his work in creating a ‘chance’ for a ‘viable way of bringing [the conflict] to a ceasefire’.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron described it as an ‘excellent meeting’, and said there was ‘strong alignment’ on priorities like ensuring no decisions about Ukraine should be taken without the Ukrainians.
Friedrich Merz, the German Chancellor, said the Europeans ‘are doing everything to set the course for this [Alaska] meeting in the right direction’.
When announcing his intention to meet with Putin last week, Trump also mooted a potential subsequent trilateral meeting where Zelensky would join them.
In his press conference following the call yesterday, Trump once again raised this possibility, saying: ‘We’ll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky and myself, if they’d like to have me there.’
He said his preference would be for this second summit to take place ‘almost immediately’ after the first.
The Telegraph reported the President is believed to be preparing to offer Putin access to rare earth minerals in the parts of Ukraine currently occupied by Russia.
Some natural resources in Alaska could be opened up to Moscow while US sanctions on the Russian aviation industry may be on the table, according to the newspaper.
In April, Kyiv signed a deal with the US to share profits from the energy and mineral reserves in Ukraine.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.