
Lammy and Vance hold meeting to discuss US-brokered Ukraine peace plan
The summit comes before a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin set for next Friday in Alaska. In a comment that that was met with pushback from Kyiv, the US president said that an end to the war must involve 'some swapping of territories'. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stressed early on Saturday that 'Ukrainians will not give their land to occupiers'.
Trump has agreed to meet the Russian president even if he refuses to meet Zelenskyy, adding to fears Ukraine could be sidelined in negotiations.
A White House official said later on Saturday that Trump was open to holding a trilateral summit in Alaska with Putin and Zelenskyy, but that it was planning a bilateral meeting with Putin at the Russian's president's request.
In a Telegram post on Saturday in which he emphasised Kyiv must be represented for any peace deal to be viable, Zelenskyy wrote: '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.'
The meeting between Lammy and Vance took place at Chevening in Kent. The Guardian understands it was held at the request of the US.
On Saturday evening, Lammy posted on X that he had held a meeting with Vance, Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of the Ukrainian president, Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's defence minister, and European national security advisers.
'The UK's support for Ukraine remains ironclad as we continue working towards a just and lasting peace,' he said.
Zelenskyy said on Saturday evening that the meeting of security advisers from Ukraine and its partner countries had been constructive, adding that Kyiv's arguments were heard and dangers were taken into account.
Zelenskyy said officials from Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Finland and Poland took part in the meeting, aiming to consolidate positions to achieve a ceasefire.
'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.
On Saturday evening the leaders of the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Finland, and the president of the EU Commission, released a joint statement declaring that the path to peace could not be decided without Ukraine.
Sign up to First Edition
Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters
after newsletter promotion
'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.
'We are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed.
'We stand ready to support this work diplomatically as well as by upholding our substantive military and financial support to Ukraine.'
On Saturday morning Starmer and Zelenskyy had talked by phone. A No 10 spokesperson said: '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.' The statement added that Starmer had reiterated 'his unwavering support for Ukraine and its people' during the call.
Zelenskyy communicated with Trump and European leaders in recent days as news broke that the US leader and Putin were planning to meet. On Friday Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, said there could be a 'freeze' in the conflict.
If the summit goes ahead between Trump and Putin, it will be the first time a US president has met the Russian leader since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The last meeting Putin had with a US president was with Joe Biden in Geneva in June 2021.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Guardian
2 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Labour's feelgood economy: it's not for everyone – especially the poorest
When Sir Keir Starmer told reporters last week that his government's upcoming budget would 'build on what we've done' by focusing on 'living standards' and 'making sure that people feel better off', it was clear that he was trying to shift the political narrative from soulless statistics to lived experience. But if the prime minister is serious, he should look at the latest forecast from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). The thinktank warns that while some households may indeed 'feel better off', many – particularly the poorest – will not. NIESR says real disposable income for the bottom tenth of households will fall this year. Living standards for the poorest fifth of Britain are well below their pre-pandemic level. This analysis rather deflates Treasury ministers' claims that real wages under Labour had risen more in 10 months than they had in the 10 previous years of Conservative government. This political attack line might be arithmetically sound, but to make it stick requires a generous statistical interpretation. What ministers have done is go back to the post-2010 austerity years, when real wages slumped after the financial crisis. Critics on social media have warned against cherrypicking time periods. They say real pay climbed gradually between 2015 and 2019 in the UK, but dropped again during the twin inflation shocks of Covid and the Ukraine war, before rebounding sharply after 2023. Ministers are scoring political points – but these are cheap given that there have been, so far, no significant changes in industrial policy, collective bargaining or public spending. In fact, real wage gains under Labour have been modest. Average weekly earnings in real terms were £523 last July and £527 this June – an increase of less than 1%. Hardly a new dawn for workers. More troubling is the distribution – which is masked by the use of average figures. Strong wage growth, says NIESR, has been concentrated in the tech and public sectors, where low‑paid workers are underrepresented. Above-inflation increases in minimum wage haven't compensated for reductions in working hours. No surprise then that the thinktank's data shows that middle- and upper-income households are seeing improvements in living standards, while the poorest are falling further behind. For these households, costs such as food and rent are rising faster than incomes. They won't feel better off – because they aren't. The upshot is that real personal disposable income rose by 4.1% in 2024-25, but the gains went almost entirely to better-off households. Today's unemployment figures show four-fifths of recent job losses concentrated in retail and hospitality – sectors that employ large numbers of low-paid workers. Clearly, for low-income families, the cost of living crisis has not abated. NIESR warns ministers to act – or risk letting the poorest slide into destitution. The country's problem lies in its imbalances. For many Britons, the modest post-pandemic recovery in real incomes has come about largely because inflation fell. But productivity growth remains anaemic, and the underlying economic model – which is financialised, service-heavy and regionally lopsided – is widening inequalities. If the next budget fails to offer anything more than supply-side tweaks or fiscal restraint in the name of credibility, Sir Keir will find that 'building on what we've done' is not enough. For the poorest Britons, what's been done so far doesn't look much like progress at all.


BBC News
2 minutes ago
- BBC News
Knife crime and other offences fall in London, says Sir Sadiq Khan
Sir Sadiq Khan has admitted there is a "long way to go" when it comes to fighting crime in London, despite figures suggesting a potential drop in some serious mayor says new City Hall data shows knife crime dropped by 19% between April and June this year compared with the same period last year, while the number of residential burglaries, personal thefts and personal robberies also some offences, such as possession of weapons, rape and drug trafficking, all increased in that recorded crime has increased by 31.5 % in the Metropolitan Police area of London in the last 10 years, with violent crime increasing by 40%, according to official crime data. The data from the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime - which is not yet publicly available - appears to show annual falls in:Theft from a person from 25,272 to 21,937 (13%)Robbery of personal property from 7,106 to 6,209 (13%)Residential burglary from 7,974 to 7,144 (10%)The mayor of London said: "The latest figures show robbery, theft, residential burglary and knife crime are down in London, but there's still a long way to go before I'm satisfied."Backed with record funding from City Hall, the Met is putting high-visibility policing at the heart of fighting crime." 'Crime is up' According to the Office for National Statistics, many crimes recorded against people increased between the years ending June 2015 and March 2025, including violence against the person (40%), possession of offensive weapons (23%), sexual offences (75%) and theft from the person (207%).Reform UK Assembly Member Alex Wilson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service : "If Sadiq Khan thinks London is getting more safe, he needs to get out more. "The idea he points to incremental changes in just a few categories is ridiculous.""The long-term trends under Sadiq Khan are clear: knife crime is up, theft is up, shoplifting is up, fare evasion is up, phone thefts at the highest ever seen, and just 2% of burglaries in outer London result in a charge or analysis of the figures comes soon after the Metropolitan Police laid out proposals to close almost half of police station front counters in London - a move critics said would have a "devastating" impact on Met's commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has said despite funding increases, the forces faces a £260m shortfall and will have to reduce its he said the force was becoming "more capable" and was focused on "driving down crime on issues that matter most to Londoners".The Mayor of London has pledged a policing blitz on London's 20 most blighted town centres for shoplifting, robbery, knife crime and antisocial behaviour this summer.


Reuters
2 minutes ago
- Reuters
US to retaliate against IMO members that back net zero emissions plan
Aug 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. on Tuesday rejected the "Net-Zero Framework" proposal by the International Maritime Organization, which is aimed at reducing global greenhouse gas emissions from the international shipping sector, and threatened measures against countries that support it. The announcement was made in a joint statement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, comes ahead of a vote at the United Nations' shipping agency to adopt the net-zero proposal, opens new tab in October. "The Trump Administration unequivocally rejects this proposal before the IMO and will not tolerate any action that increases costs for our citizens, energy providers, shipping companies and their customers, or tourists," the statement said. "Our fellow IMO members should be on notice that we will look for their support against this action and not hesitate to retaliate or explore remedies for our citizens should this endeavor fail," it continued. The U.S. already exited IMO talks on the net-zero framework in April and urged other IMO members in a memo seen by Reuters to reconsider their support for it. The World Shipping Council, which represents major shipping firms like container carrier Maersk ( opens new tab and car carrier Major global container shipping companies, including Maersk and car carrier Wallenius Wilhelmsen ( opens new tab, declined comment. Many WSC members already have committed to net zero operations by 2050. President Donald Trump has also said he is withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement, which set a goal for countries to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. The U.S. is currently engaging in UN negotiations to secure a global treaty to reduce plastic pollution and has warned countries in a memo that it will not support a pact that sets caps on plastic pollution and bans the use of certain chemicals. Shipping, which transports around 90% of world trade and accounts for nearly 3% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, has faced calls from environmentalists and investors to deliver more concrete action, including a carbon levy. The United States is one of 176 IMO member states.