UK backs Trump on Ukraine, but ‘won't trust Putin as far as you can throw him'
Mr Trump has signalled he thinks Ukraine might need to cede territory in order to end the conflict.
Asked whether Sir Keir Starmer believes the Russian President could be trusted in negotiations, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said the UK supported both Kyiv and the US President's push for peace, but not Moscow.
'Never trust President Putin as far as you could throw him, but we obviously will support Ukraine,' he said on Monday.
'We will obviously support President Trump and European nations as we enter these negotiations.
'But it is exactly why we've been leading this work on the coalition of the willing, because any ceasefire, as I say, cannot just be an opportunity for President Putin to go away, re-arm, restrengthen, and then go again.
Another week has ended without any attempt by Russia to agree to the numerous demands of the world and stop the killings. In just the past 24 hours on the front, there have been 137 combat engagements, and this is the case every day. The Russian army is not reducing its pressure.… pic.twitter.com/FcpEOTiIXW
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 11, 2025
'So we're not going to leave it to trust. We're going to ensure that we're prepared such that we achieve a ceasefire.'
Planning for the so-called coalition of the willing, which would involve a European-led peacekeeping force sent to Ukraine to monitor any future truce, began in March.
Downing Street said 'operational planning continues at a military level' despite no talks between leaders planned for this week, but indicated that there was little left to finalise.
Asked whether work relating to the coalition had been put on hold to keep the road clear for Washington-led mediation this week, the Prime Minister's spokesman said: 'No… if anything, the next step really is reaching that ceasefire, such that we're then able to to implement the security guarantees.'
It comes after European leaders including Sir Keir said the path to peace for Kyiv 'cannot be decided without Ukraine' and the current line of contact between Russia and Ukraine could only be a 'starting point of negotiations'.
In a joint statement, the leaders of Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland and the European Commission said: 'Ukraine has the freedom of choice over its own destiny. Meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities.
'The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine.
'We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force.'
The statement comes a day after Mr Trump announced that he would meet Mr Putin in Alaska on Friday, as he seeks an end to a conflict he had promised he could finish on his first day in office.
The US President had earlier suggested that any peace deal was likely to involve 'some swapping of territories', with reports suggesting this could involve Ukraine giving up its Donetsk region.
But President Volodymyr Zelensky has already rejected any proposal that would compromise Ukraine's territorial integrity, something that is forbidden by Ukraine's constitution.
He said Mr Putin wanted to 'exchange a pause in the war, in the killing, for the legalisation of the occupation of our land – he wants to get territorial spoils for the second time'.
Mr Zelensky added: 'We will not allow this second attempt to partition Ukraine. Knowing Russia, where there is a second, there will be a third.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
12 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Wednesday briefing: How Trump and Putin might make peace in Ukraine without Zelenskyy at the table
Good morning. All eyes will be on Alaska this Friday for a peace summit aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The meeting will be between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Even more striking: Ukraine, the country under invasion and with parts of its territory occupied, has not been invited. But behind the buzz of diplomacy lies the fog of war. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia is not preparing to end the conflict, but 'making movements that indicate preparations for new offensive operations'. What exactly this new offensive will entail remains uncertain. But just days before the Trump-Putin summit, Zelenskyy admitted in a press briefing that groups of Russians advanced about 10km in several places, as part of their bid to seize full control of the Donetsk region. To understand how the upcoming summit and reports of fresh Russian incursions might shape the course of the war and any potential peace settlement, I spoke to Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian's defence editor, who is reporting from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. That's after the headlines. Immigration | More than 50,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats since Keir Starmer became prime minister, official figures have confirmed. Gaza | Gaza is facing a new threat as diseases resistant to antibiotics spread across the devastated territory. Medical supplies are scarce and tens of thousands of people have been injured or weakened by malnutrition in the 22-month war. UK news | The Treasury is looking at ways to raise more money from inheritance tax amid growing pressure on the country's finances ahead of the autumn budget, sources have told the Guardian. Wildfires | Almost 6,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in northern, central and southern Spain as wildfires continue to burn amid a heatwave that could bring temperatures of 44C to some parts of the country. US news | National guard troops arrived at their headquarters in Washington DC on Tuesday as Democratic mayors warned Donald Trump against expanding his law and order power grab in other major cities. During the presidential campaign last year, Donald Trump repeatedly vowed to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office. But eight months into his presidency, the war rages on into its fourth year. In that time, Russia has been building up its industrial capability. It is now manufacturing about 100 Shahed drones a day, while ramping up missile production, especially Iskander ballistic missiles, which are very hard for Ukraine to intercept, Dan tells me. 'They've started using these in combination and in greater numbers,' Dan says. 'In spring, we saw more regular missile attacks on Kyiv, which included all-night drone raids. In one attack, dozens of people were killed. The biggest was in the western city of Lutsk, near a Ukrainian airbase, when about 700 drones came in one night. We're seeing the Russian military-industrial complex grinding along, trying to win through attrition.' Russia started to slightly dial down its attacks on Ukrainian urban centres after complaints by the US, but that changed this week. And there's more movement on the frontlines, with reports that raiding parties have broken through a few kilometres from Donetsk. 'These are small, about 30 to 50 troops, but the point is psychological: to make Americans and negotiators think Ukraine is in trouble,' Dan says. 'Ahead of this much-hyped Trump-Putin summit in Alaska, the Russians are trying to create 'facts on the ground'.' What about Ukraine's offensive into Russia? Last year, Ukrainian forces crossed the border into Russia's Kursk region in a surprise incursion that caught Russia off guard. 'It was a big morale-boosting operation,' Dan says. But by the spring of this year, Russia had successfully repelled the attack. Reclaiming the region occurred during a crucial time: the big row between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office that was seen around the world. Shortly after that diplomatic spat, the Americans briefly withheld intelligence sharing, which is crucial for targeting and knowing where the enemy is, and paused weapons shipments for the first time. 'The Russians gained a lot of territory in a few days. Even though both were later switched back on, a lot of momentum was lost,' Dan says. 'So, Ukraine lost what might have been a bargaining chip in future negotiations.' What will happen at the Alaska peace summit? There are reports that Ukrainians only knew about the peace summit after it had been arranged. And they have not been invited – despite pleading from European leaders that Zelenskyy be at the negotiating table. The relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy can best be described as rocky. But Dan says that Trump has seemed to lose patience with Putin. He gave the Russian leader a 50-day deadline to agree to a Ukraine ceasefire or face US sanctions on oil exports, and began to threaten secondary sanctions on China and India for buying Russian oil. Then, Trump's negotiator Steve Witkoff went to Moscow last week, and news broke that Trump would meet the Russian president this week. It will be the first US-Russia leadership summit since Joe Biden met his counterpart in Geneva in June 2021. 'Trump wants the headline 'I stopped the war', but may not care what that looks like,' cautions Dan. 'The two leaders agreed to meet in Alaska, a kind of midpoint between the two countries, though geopolitically nowhere. European leaders aren't invited. Zelenskyy isn't invited. This is purely bilateral and it's Trump and Putin's first face-to-face since Helsinki 2018. 'The Ukrainian fear is that Russia will offer a ceasefire in exchange for Ukraine giving up the rest of Donetsk oblast, which is about 9,000 sq km, including heavily fortified cities like Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.' In a press briefing attended by Dan, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would never accept this, because it's strategically vital territory and giving it away would invite future Russian offensives. The region sought by Russia amounted to 'about 90,000 square kilometres' of the country, he said. He adds that Ukraine's counteroffer is a ceasefire on current frontlines, prisoner and child returns, and then talks on territory and security guarantees. They refuse any voluntary handover of cities Russia hasn't taken. But Putin has thus far refused to meet Zelenskyy. What do ordinary Ukrainians want? Dan has been in Kyiv every August since 2022. That year, the city was recovering after repelling Russian attempts to seize it. In 2023, the counteroffensive was under way but the future remained uncertain. By 2024, after the Kursk incursion, there was renewed optimism. 'There's now a growing weariness. People want to see what happens with this diplomatic track, but no one expects a military miracle. People get very tired when there's a run of missile and drone attacks, they lose sleep and real life becomes hard work. People are sheltering in the metro station and if you've got a family you're thinking 'what am I doing here?' But when those stop the city comes back to life. It's a resilient place,' Dan says. The Ukrainian people want the war to end – nearly everyone has lost someone or been displaced – but they won't accept peace at any price, Dan added. And while there's growing acceptance that Ukraine can't reconquer all their lost territory, there's also a hard line on not giving up more. What is on the mind of people in the country is what role Trump is going to play. 'Ukrainians, particularly the negotiators, want to be very careful here. No one wants to alienate the US leader for obvious reasons. If there is a world where Trump is going to be a mediator, the guy who can bring Putin and Zelenskyy round the table, the guy who can make this a threeway summit to end the war, or at least stop the fighting, then in Ukraine's view Trump can be a hero,' Dan says. 'But if Trump is going to try to negotiate with Putin and then try to force Ukrainians to accept that negotiated peace, if he is less of an honest broker, then that's something to fear and not something they want' The problem is no one knows which Trump will turn up in Alaska. Shocking report on how millions of lentil-sized bits of plastic (nurdles, above) are washing into the sea and clogging up the insides of fish, shrimp and seabirds that mistake them for food. Phoebe It's been a year since the Tories suffered their worst electoral defeat yet, but the news has yet to sink in, says former cabinet minister David Gauke in a fascinating interview with the Guardian's Jessica Elgot. Aamna A cautionary tale for readers at risk of becoming over-reliant on ChatGPT for medical advice - a 60-year-old man stopped eating salt after consulting with the chatbot and ended up being treated for psychosis. Phoebe Israel is running two Gaza campaigns, writes the Guardian's Emma Graham-Harrison: one to secure control of the strip, and another on shaping the narrative of events. The targeted killing of Palestinian journalists and restrictions on press access have led to conclusions this is a deliberate strategy. Aamna Ahead of Trump and Putin's meeting on Friday, this is an interesting look at the history of Alaska - why it is dotted with Russian Orthodox churches, and why it is a good backdrop for the two world leaders to meet. Phoebe 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 Football | Crystal Palace have called on Uefa to scrap its 'poorly conceived' rules on multi-club ownership after their appeal against demotion from the Europa League was rejected. Cricket | Middlesex are in advanced negotiations with two international investment groups over a funding deal that would enable the club to build a permanent home away from Lord's. Football | Sky Sports is to give its viewers the opportunity to watch four Premier League games at once this season, introducing a 'multiview' feature to accompany a record number of live matches in the top flight. 'Treasury targets inheritance tax rises to plug growing UK deficit,' is the front page on the Guardian on Wednesday. 'Families face fresh inheritance tax grab,' says the Telegraph. 'Chinese company could take over struggling Thames Water,' is the splash at the Times, while the Mirror leads with: 'DRY ALERT,' highlighting a story on the water crisis and drought. 'Taunts of the Tik Tok migrant,' is the focus at the Sun, and the Mail: It's not our fault!' 'Clampdown on stone imports after deadly lung disease linked to kitchen revamps,' says the i paper, as the FT has 'Arms factories expand at triple speed as Europe switches on to war footing.' Finally, the Daily Express leads with 'Record 8m people on universal credit,' and the Metro: 'Bungling hitwoman in niqab faces life.' The secrets of the world's richest company Nvidia is the world's first $4tn company – and it just made an astonishing deal with Trump. But who is the company's founder, Jensen Huang, and what is behind its success? Tae Kim explains A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad Thousands more waterways are being used for swimming and boating in England than previously thought. The Environment Agency had listed 342 waterways in England as being used for outdoor activities like paddle boarding, rowing, sailing and surfing. In fact, the number is 10 times that, with 3,347 'water recreation locations' around the country. 'This research only confirms what we've been saying for years. England's wild waters are alive with swimmers, surfers, sailors and paddlers all year round,' says Dani Jordan, the director of campaigns and communities at Surfers Against Sewage. Only 451 are official bathing sites, and campaigners are pushing for more lakes and rivers to be cleaned up so people can enjoy them safely. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday The Guardian's climate assembly with George Monbiot and special guests On 16 September, join George Monbiot, Emma Pinchbeck, Mikaela Loach, as they discuss the forces driving the big climate pushback, with a welcome from editor-in-chief Katharine Viner and the opportunity to meet our spotlight charities and activists. Book tickets here or at And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
Glasgow Times
14 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
US and China extend trade truce for another 90 days
Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that 'all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same'. Beijing at the same time also announced the extension of the tariff pause, according to the Ministry of Commerce. The previous deadline was set to expire at 12.01am on Tuesday. Had that happened the US could have ratcheted up taxes on Chinese imports from an already high 30%, and Beijing could have responded by raising retaliatory levies on US exports to China. The pause buys time for the two countries to work out some of their differences, perhaps clearing the way for a summit later this year between Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and it has been welcomed by the US companies doing business with China. China said on Tuesday it would extend relief to American companies who were placed on an export control list and an unreliable entities list. After Mr Trump initially announced tariffs in April, China restricted exports of dual-use goods to some American companies, while banning others from trading or investing in China. The Ministry of Commerce said it would stop those restrictions for some companies, while giving others another 90-day extension. Reaching a pact with China remains unfinished business for Mr Trump, who has already upended the global trading system by slapping double-digit taxes – tariffs – on almost every country on earth. The EU, Japan and other trading partners agreed to lopsided trade deals with Mr Trump, accepting once unthinkably US high tariffs (15% on Japanese and EU imports, for instance) to ward off something worse. US President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House (Alex Brandon/AP) In June, the US and China reached an agreement to ease tensions. The US said it would pull back export restrictions on computer chip technology and ethane, a feedstock in petrochemical production, and China agreed to make it easier for US firms to get access to rare earths. 'The US has realised it does not have the upper hand,' said Claire Reade, senior counsel at Arnold & Porter and former assistant US trade representative for China affairs. In May, the US and China had averted an economic catastrophe by reducing massive tariffs they'd slapped on each other's products, which had reached as high as 145% against China and 125% against the US. Those triple-digit tariffs threatened to effectively end trade between the US and China and caused a frightening sell-off in financial markets. In a May meeting in Geneva, America's tariffs went back down to a still-high 30% and China's to 10%. Ms Reade does not expect much beyond limited agreements such as the Chinese saying they will buy more American soybeans and promising to do more to stop the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl and to allow the continued flow of rare-earth magnets. But the tougher issues will likely linger, and 'the trade war will continue grinding ahead for years into the future', said Jeff Moon, a former US diplomat and trade official.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Homeless DC resident reacts to Trump's crackdown
Flegette Rippy, a homeless person living in Washington, D.C., told Reuters on Monday (August 11) that she felt the Trump administration was throwing homeless people 'to the rats' after the president said he was deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington and temporarily taking over the city's police department to fight crime while also vowing to remove homeless encampments.
