Starmer vows ‘unwavering support' for Ukraine after defiant Zelensky rules out giving up land to Russia
President Trump is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin next Friday in Alaska as he seeks to bring an end to the war in Ukraine, and said the talks could include 'some swapping of territories'.
But President Zelensky hit back, insisting Ukraine "will not give Russia any awards for what it has done" and that "Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier'.
In a phone call with the Ukrainian leader on Saturday morning, Sir Keir reiterated 'his unwavering support for Ukraine and its people'.
After the call, President Zelensky said the two men 'shared the same view' on the danger of discussing what he described as 'the impossible'.
A Downing Street 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 prime minister ended the call by reiterating his unwavering support for Ukraine and its people."
It comes as the UK is set to host a hastily arranged meeting of national security advisers from the US, Ukraine and European countries on Saturday.
The meeting at David Lammy's official country retreat, Chevening, will "discuss progress towards securing a just and lasting peace".
It is understood the meeting was arranged at the request of the US and will be co-hosted by American vice-president JD Vance, who is staying in Kent at Chevening at the start of his UK holiday.
Confirming the summit with President Trump in Alaska next week, the Kremlin said the two leaders would focus on discussing options for achieving a 'long-term peaceful resolution'.
President Putin is expected to use the meeting to set out his demands, including that Ukraine give up two eastern regions as well as Crimea.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Mr Trump said any deal may include the 'some swapping of territories', adding: 'We're going to get some back. We're going to get some switched. There will be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.'
But in an angry response on Saturday, President Zelensky said his country would not violate its constitution by ceding territory.
'Ukrainians will not give their land to occupiers,' he said. He also warned that any peace deal which excluded Kyiv would lead to "dead solutions."
President Trump's decision to meet Mr Putin has fuelled fears that Ukraine could be sidelined in the efforts to end the war.
But Mr Zelensky issued a staunch warning to the international community that any agreement reached without Ukraine would ultimately fail.
He said: "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."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump demands homeless ‘immediately' move out of Washington DC to make nation's capital ‘more beautiful'
President Donald Trump has demanded that the homeless 'immediately' move out of Washington, D.C. to make the nation's capital 'more beautiful.' Trump reiterated his Saturday announcement that he's set to hold a press conference at the White House on Monday, adding that 'I'm going to make our Capital safer and more beautiful than it ever was before.' 'The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,' he continued. 'We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail where you belong.' The president went on to say that 'It's all going to happen very fast, just like the Border. We went from millions pouring in, to ZERO in the last few months. This will be easier — Be prepared! There will be no 'MR. NICE GUY.' We want our Capital BACK.' Trump's promise to jail criminals in Washington comes as the city's mayor, Muriel Bowser, has noted that there's no recent increase in crime. The president didn't outline what legal authority he would use to evict people from the capital — the president only controls federal lands and buildings in the District of Columbia.
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Proscribing Palestine Action has 'empowered' far-right, say protesters
Protesters in a UK town twinned with Al-Mawasi in Gaza blame the Palestine Action ban for an increase in violence and abuse against demonstrators. An organiser of the Friends of Al-Mawasi group, based in Hastings, East Sussex, said the UK Government has 'empowered' extremists by trying to 'demonise' Palestine supporters. In July, Hastings Borough Council passed a motion to back an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to all arms sales to Israel and to support the town's friendship links with the people of Al-Mawasi – a section of the Gaza Strip. Last month, at a fundraising walk, there were multiple alleged incidents of verbal and physical abuse from counter-protesters which were reported to the police. A woman, waiting for the demonstrators at De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill, was pushed to the ground and called a 'f****** terrorist' for wearing a keffiyeh, while a Jewish man, whose father escaped the Holocaust, was repeatedly called a Nazi by Israel supporters. Both incidents were reported to Sussex Police after the walk on July 20. On Sunday, roughly 100 protesters ran a second fundraising walk from Hastings beach along the coast to Bexhill 'in defiance' of the abuse. Grace Lally, who helped set up the group and campaigned for the town to twin with Al-Mawasi, believes there is a 'clear link' between the Government action and the abuse. She said: 'Those extremists have been empowered by a Government that says, people supporting Palestine are terrorists, d'you know what I mean?' Ms Lally added: 'The reason it's being challenged in the court and the reason the court has given permission for a judicial review to be held is because of the chilling effect of that ruling which blurs the line between protest and terrorism.' She said it did not matter that the Government had only proscribed Palestine Action rather than all protesters. 'That (the decision) I think has emboldened people on the far-right, extremists, to sort of see anyone who's supporting Palestine as a legitimate target,' Ms Lally said. On Saturday, more than 500 people were arrested in central London for showing support for Palestine Action. Richard Wistreich, a member of Jews for Justice Hastings, was one of the demonstrators who faced abuse in the July fundraising march. He told the PA news agency that cars had parked on their route to Bexhill, with a couple of people waving Israeli flags and shouting abuse as the protesters passed by. Mr Wistreich, whose father escaped Poland in the late 1930s, said: 'At one point one of them got out of the car and saw my T-shirt, which made it quite clear that I am proclaiming myself to be Jewish. 'So I was then very loudly told that I was not a Jew and in fact I was a Nazi, in a very, very aggressive manner.' The woman wearing the keffiyeh, who wishes to remain anonymous, said a man approached her on the pavilion aggressively and said 'that scarf', which she ignored. She said: 'I wasn't responding to him at all because he looked so angry and then he went 'you're a f****** terrorist' and then he proceeded to grab the scarf and pull me close to him.' The woman said she tried to get his hands off her, but he pushed her to the ground and she hit her head, before two people intervened and pulled the man off her. On Sunday afternoon, the protesters were wary of further incidents but bolstered by much greater numbers, and the vast majority of passers-by seemed supportive. A few made comments which the protesters ignored. Before the walk, Green Party councillor Yunis Smith said: 'We may see some people trying to antagonise us, cause issues, trying to be abusive, aggressive, offensive, let's remember the strength, perseverance and patience that our Palestinian brothers and sisters have when we face this.' When links between the towns were first set up in 2022, Al-Mawasi, located in western Khan Younis, was a rural farming and fishing town with a population of 12,000. According to the United Nations, there were 425,000 displaced Palestinians living in the area as of June 19, and the protesters said the figure is now closer to 600,000. Israel is obliged under international humanitarian law to ensure adequate and safe shelter for internally displaced people, as well as access to food, water, and medical care, until they can return to their homes. A United Nations report released in June said that Israel had not made 'any effort' to comply with those laws since its offensive began. 'I can't understand how anybody, regardless of your political persuasion, can see this level of injustice and not break inside, I just don't, I don't get it,' said councillor Smith. Ms Lally said it was 'bittersweet' to have the council finally twin with Al-Mawasi given the devastation in the area, but still felt it was a positive step. 'Palestine is made up of communities of people and those people, they're not going away, they will rebuild, this will end, there will be a future for them and twinning sort of is just a testament to that,' she said.
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Russians crow over Trump-Putin summit being held in Alaska: ‘Makes the US an Arctic nation'
It's the first time that a Russian leader has been invited to American soil outside of the United Nations since 2007, and comes without the Kremlin having made any apparent concessions amid its war of aggression in Ukraine. Just days before the summit was announced, Trump was sharing his anger at Putin's consistent bombing of Ukraine and threatened to increase sanctions on Russia. The sudden decision to meet with the Russian leader prompted European and Ukrainian officials to scramble to respond to the new arrangement. One of the top interlocutors between the Kremlin and the Trump administration is Russia's special economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who argued that the decision to have the meeting in Alaska was symbolically significant. The U.S. bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, roughly two cents per acre. 'Born as Russian America — Orthodox roots, forts, fur trade — Alaska echoes those ties and makes the U.S. an Arctic nation,' he said on X. Konstantin Malofeyev is a billionaire who the Obama administration sanctioned for funding separatists in Ukraine backed by the Kremlin and interfering in elections in a number of countries. He claimed Alaskans 'respectfully remember their Russian past and their Orthodox present.' Alexander Kots, a war correspondent supportive of the Kremlin, said in his Telegram channel that 'The meeting in Alaska has every chance to become historic.' 'That is, of course, if the West does not try to pull off another scheme,' he added. Meanwhile, analysts in the West urged caution. Michael McFaul served as the U.S. ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration. 'Trump has chosen to host Putin in a part of the former Russian Empire,' he said on X. 'Wonder if he knows that Russian nationalists claim that losing Alaska, like Ukraine, was a raw deal for Moscow that needs to be corrected.' 'The symbolism of holding the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska is horrendous — as though designed to demonstrate that borders can change, land can be bought and sold,' said King's College London Russian Politics professor Sam Greene, according to The Washington Post. 'Never mind that mainstream Russian discourse maintains a claim that Alaska should be returned to Russia.' While Czar Alexander II offered up Alaska for sale, Putin has taken Ukrainian territory by force via the unlawful annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the subsequent full-scale invasion of the country in 2022, when he illegally claimed to annex four regions of Ukraine. Russia analysts told The Post that it's unlikely that the Kremlin has left behind any of its goals for Ukraine, such as demilitarization, the replacement of the current regime with a pro-Russia one, and for Ukraine not to join NATO. A senior fellow with the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, Tatiana Stanovaya, said Trump 'didn't want to fall into confrontation with Russia.' 'Trump himself said that further sanctions probably wouldn't force Putin to change his mind. We could see from these signals that Trump could be open to a new attempt, and he did so just days before the end of his ultimatum,' Stanovaya added. The deputy head of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Janis Kluge, told The Post that Putin's proposal is 'part of the war.' 'It's just a temporary ceasefire in exchange for land,' said Kluge. 'It is meant to give Putin an advantage in the longer run against Ukraine and the West.' A former top Kremlin official told the paper that Russia appeared willing to compromise, as it indicated that it was ready for a ceasefire. 'Politically, it is easier [for the Kremlin] to continue the war until Ukraine's final collapse than to make peace,' the anonymous official said. 'This is why they are clinging on to the idea that there needs to be a temporary but not permanent truce — and then in the meantime [Ukrainian] elections can be conducted.' While the Kremlin has pushed for a friendly regime in Kyiv, Ukrainians have often demonstrated their wish for free and fair elections and a democratic future as part of the European Union. Pro-Kremlin analyst Sergei Markov said, 'Russian troops are not going to make any step backward,' as part of a deal to reach a ceasefire. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that he wouldn't agree to any deal that included handing over territory to Russia, saying Ukraine's constitution prohibited it. 'There are no guarantees,' Markov added, according to The Post. 'But there are also no guarantees that Ukraine won't begin the war again.' He went on to say that Russia's top goal during the summit was to paint Europe and Ukraine as impediments to Trump's dream of achieving a peace deal. 'Russia hopes that Trump will finally become sensible and see that Zelensky is the main reason for the war that is happening now, and that the second reason for the war is European leaders … and that they are his enemies too,' said Markov, adding that Trump will realze that 'Putin is one of his few good political friends.'
