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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK and France will work with Ukraine “on a plan to stop the fighting” with Russia – and will then “discuss that plan with the United States”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is attending a summit of European leaders, two days after a fiery exchange with US President Donald Trump in the White House.
Sir Keir told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that his “driving purpose” was to act as a “bridge” between the two men.
He sought to play down the incident, saying “nobody wants to see that” and admitted he felt “uncomfortable”.
The PM’s response was to pick up the phone to his counterparts Trump and Zelensky that same night, in an effort to “get us back to the central focus”, he said.
He also dismissed calls by SNP first minister John Swinney to cancel the invite for a second state visit to the UK by Trump.
The PM received support from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who said the state visit should be used to secure guarantees for Ukraine.
Sir Keir said: “There are a number of different routes people can go down. One is to ramp up the rhetoric as to how outraged we all are or not.”
He said the other option was to “roll up my sleeves” and quickly phone both men – and then also to speak to French President Emmanuel Macron about the role that leading nations of Europe would play.
He also reiterated that “Europe needs to do more” in its own defence and security, and that a European security guarantee would have to be led by a “coalition of the willing”.
French President Vladimir Putin, he added, was not to be trusted when it came to a peace deal, and Zelensky was a different story, but “we have to trust the US to work with us to support and defend Ukraine.”
He rejected calls to cut the foreign aid budget and increase defence spending further, saying it was a priority to ensure the UK was able to play a leading role in international efforts to achieve a lasting peace.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was welcomed to Downing Street by the PM, and they discussed the goal of a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.
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