KATHMANDU. More than a dozen European leaders are gathering in London on Sunday for crisis talks, seeking to boost security cooperation and support for Ukraine after a surprise clash between Kiev and Washington.
Ukraine’s allies are stressing their firm commitment to countering growing concerns that US President Donald Trump is weakening Kiev in talks with Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was warmly welcomed to Downing Street on Saturday, a day after being ousted from the White House. He hugged the British prime minister twice in front of the camera and signed a loan-loan agreement to boost defense capabilities that have been fending off Russian aggression for more than three years.
“I thank the British people and government for their overwhelming support since the beginning of the war,” Zelensky said. “We are happy to have such strategic partners and to share a common vision of what a secure future for all should be.”
He met King Charles III on Sunday before joining a group of European allies at a security summit. The meeting is bringing together leaders from continental Europe, including France, Germany, Denmark and Italy, as well as Turkey, NATO and the European Union (EU). British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, “Now is the time for us to come together to ensure the best outcome for Ukraine, to protect European security and to secure our collective future.”
Downing Street said Sunday’s summit would again stress the need for a “strong lasting agreement that delivers lasting peace” and discuss “next steps to plan for strong security guarantees.” The gathering in Britain will also address the need to increase European defense cooperation amid growing concerns about whether the United States will continue to support NATO.
Crowds of supporters cheered Zelensky as his motorcade arrived in London on Saturday. “You are very welcome here in Downing Street,” Starmer told Zelensky before the 75-minute closed-door talks. “The two discussed the situation in Ukraine and ways to end the war with a ‘lasting and just peace that will not allow Russia to use the ceasefire to re-arm and attack again,’” Zelensky’s office said in a statement.
Britain has agreed to a £2.26 billion ($2.84 billion) loan to support Ukraine’s defense capabilities. It will have to be repaid from the profits of sovereign Russian property. “This money will be directed to the production of weapons in Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “This is true justice – whoever started the war must pay the price.” While in London, he said he was happy to “have such strategic partners and share a common vision of what a safe future for all should be.” Just hours earlier, Zelensky had been interrupted by shouting at the White House. As cameras rolled in the Oval Office, Trump and US Vice President JD Vance angrily accused Zelensky of being “ungrateful” and rejecting the terms of a ceasefire they had proposed.
Trump also accused him of being ungrateful and gambling on the possibility of World War III. Meanwhile, Zelensky insisted there should be “no deal” with Putin as the parties negotiate to end the war.
Trump has alarmed Kiev and its European allies by abruptly reversing Washington’s years of support for Ukraine. The newly inaugurated Republican President Trump has presented himself as a mediator between Putin and Zelensky, sidelining Kiev and Europe in his quest to improve relations with Putin.
In the Oval Office, Trump said he had spoken with Putin “on many more occasions” than has been publicly reported. After meeting with Starmer in Washington last week, Trump said there had been “a lot of progress” on an agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine and that the talks were at an important stage. Despite refusing to apologize after the White House spat, Zelensky insisted that Ukraine and the United States would remain “strategic partners” despite “difficult negotiations,” and signaled that he was still willing to make concessions on Ukraine’s mineral resources that Trump wanted.
“But we need to be honest and direct with each other to truly understand our common goals,” the Ukrainian leader wrote in X. Meanwhile, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called Zelensky a “vulgar pig” who had received a “deserved slap in the Oval Office.” Moscow branded Zelensky’s visit to Washington a “complete failure,” while German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbach accused Trump of “switching the roles of victim and aggressor” in the conflict. “Yesterday evening underlined that a new era of defamation has begun,” he said.
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