Donald Trump has “brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine”, Sir Keir Starmer has said, following a highly anticipated summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday night.
It came despite the talks ending without a ceasefire deal or an agreement on pausing Moscow’s war in Ukraine, after nearly three hours of negotiations between the US president and his Russian counterpart at a military base in Anchorage, Alaska.
While concerns linger over the prospect of Kyiv being excluded from negotiations over its own future, Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday announced he will travel to Washington for a meeting with Mr Trump on Monday.
“I plan to discuss all the details regarding the end of the killings, the end of the war with President Trump in Washington on Monday. Grateful for the invitation,” Mr Zelensky said.
Speaking in the early hours of the morning, the US and Russian presidents confirmed that no deal had been reached, with Mr Trump adding that “we didn’t get there” on one of the “most significant” sticking points.
However - in a brief media appearance where they offered little detail and refused to take questions from reporters - Mr Trump said “some great progress” was made with “many points” agreed and “very few” remaining.
Meanwhile, Mr Putin said the negotiations were “held in a constructive atmosphere” and raised the prospect of another meeting in Moscow - a suggestion which is likely to spark concern from those fearing the US president could capitulate to Russia’s demands.
It comes amid fears Ukraine could be pressured to cede territory, after the US leader previously suggested any agreement may need to involve “swapping of land”,
But piling pressure on Mr Trump not to cave to Putin’s demands, European leaders - including French president Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Germany’s Friedrich Merz and the European Commission’s Ursula Von der Leyen - in a joint statement reiterated that “no limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its co-operation with third countries”.
“Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine‘s pathway to EU and Nato”, they added, reiterating that the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ is “ready to play an active role”.
The UK has promised to put a “reassurance force” in Ukraine in the event that a peace deal is struck. However, there have been reports in recent days that this force will be scaled back from the 30,000 strong force that had originally been floated.
In a separate statement on Monday, Sir Keir welcomed the US president’s suggestion that he could provide “robust security guarantees” to support Ukraine - but reiterated that the next step in the peace process “must be further talks involving President Zelenskyy” after Friday’s summit excluded the Ukrainian leader.
“[Donald Trump’s] leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended”, the prime minister added.
In a call after the summit, Sir Keir and Mr Zelensky spoke with the US president alongside leaders from Italy, France, Finland, Germany and Poland, as well as Nato’s Mark Rutte, and Ms Von der Leyen.
“President Trump’s efforts have brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. His leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended”, the prime minister said in his statement.
“While progress has been made, the next step must be further talks involving President Zelenskyy”.
He added: “I welcome the openness of the United States, alongside Europe, to provide robust security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal. This is important progress and will be crucial in deterring Putin from coming back for more.
“In the meantime, until he stops his barbaric assault, we will keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even more sanctions, which have already had a punishing impact on the Russian economy and its people.”
On Thursday, Mr Trump suggested European leaders could be invited to a second meeting if Friday’s summit was a success.
On the same day, Sir Keir met with the Ukrainian leader and the pair expressed cautious optimism about the prospect of a truce “as long as Putin takes action to prove he is serious” about ending the war, a Downing Street statement said.
However, the failure to make progress today may have dashed hopes of making progress with the Russian president.
It came as leading experts warned that Mr Putin has been “rewarded” for his invasion of Ukraine with Donald Trump’s summit in Alaska.
Orysia Lutsevych, head of the Ukraine forum at the Chatham House think tank, warned that Mr Trump’s decision to call Russia a “great country” and say there is a strong mutual understanding between the two parties represents a “further fissure in the already shaky Transatlantic alliance, the rupture of which is a primary Russian aim.”
Meanwhile, Keir Giles, an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia programme at Chatham House, suggested there were “two dangers” which could emerge from the summit.
The first is that Mr Zelensky may now be perceived by Mr Trump as a “softer target where he is more willing to exert leverage”, and that the US president could “once again try to strongarm Zelensky into compromising the future of his country”.
The second danger is that European leaders “might once again think the immediate danger has passed” and become complacent, after their scramble to speak to Mr Trump ahead of the summit, he said.
And Dr Neil Melvin, director of international security at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) suggested Mr Putin would walk away considering the summit outcome as “mission accomplished”.
“Vladimir Putin came to the Alaska summit with the principal goal of stalling any pressure on Russia to end the war”, he warned.
