US President Donald Trump has said American jets could help defend Ukraine if there is a deal to end the war but acknowledged it was possible Russian President Vladimir Putin would reject a peace plan.
He said it would be a “rough situation” if Mr Putin failed to agree peace terms but stressed that Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky had to show flexibility, including giving up hopes of getting Crimea back or joining Nato.
The US president’s comments came as Sir Keir Starmer held talks with members of the “coalition of the willing”, the nations prepared to contribute to guaranteeing Ukraine’s security if a deal to end the Russian invasion can be reached.
In a call on Tuesday, members of the group discussed the possibility of further sanctions on Russia, while planners from the nations will meet their US counterparts “in the coming days”, amid efforts to set up “robust security guarantees”, Number 10 said.
The Prime Minister and Mr Zelensky were among European leaders who travelled to Washington on Monday for talks at the White House.
Those discussions have paved the way for a potential meeting between Mr Zelensky and Mr Putin for the first time since the Russian leader invaded his neighbour in 2022.
Mr Trump told Fox News: “I hope President Putin is going to be good and if he’s not, that’s going to be a rough situation.
“And I hope that Zelensky, President Zelensky, will do what he has to do. He has to show some flexibility.”
The UK and France have pledged to commit forces to Ukraine to deter Mr Putin from launching a fresh assault on his neighbour if a deal is done to end the war.
Mr Trump said they were “willing to put people on the ground”, and added: “We’re willing to help them with things, especially probably if you could talk about by air, because there’s nobody has the kind of stuff we have.”
But he suggested that Mr Putin was unlikely to launch another invasion as he was “tired of it” after three years of war.
“We are going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks, that I can tell you,” Mr Trump said, acknowledging that it was “possible he doesn’t want to make a deal”.
Sir Keir said work with the US on what the security guarantees would entail could start as soon as Tuesday.
He said there was a “real significant breakthrough when it comes to security guarantees, because we’re now going to be working with the US on those security guarantees”.
Sir Keir told the BBC that teams from both sides of the Atlantic were starting “the detailed work on that”.
The Prime Minister co-chaired a call on Tuesday morning of the so-called “coalition of the willing”, the group of nations he has been leading with France’s President Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Trump spoke directly to Mr Putin to begin planning a meeting between the Russian leader and Mr Zelensky while hosting the gathering on Monday, which will then be followed by a three-way meeting involving himself.
The US president said Moscow will “accept” multinational efforts to guarantee Ukraine’s security.
Mr Zelensky, meanwhile, said he was “ready” for bilateral and trilateral meetings.
But he told reporters following the White House meeting that if Russia does “not demonstrate a will to meet, then we will ask the United States to act accordingly”.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said the US and Europe would “do more” on tariffs and sanctions against Russia if the country “is not playing ball” on direct talks with Ukraine, in comments to Fox News.
Sir Keir described the talks as “good and constructive” and said there was a “real sense of unity” between the European leaders, Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky.
He said Mr Trump’s plans to arrange the bilateral and trilateral meetings showed a recognition that Ukraine must be involved in talks.
“That is a recognition of the principle that on some of these issues, whether it’s territory or the exchange of prisoners, or the very serious issue of the return of children, that is something where Ukraine must be at the table,” the Prime Minister said.
