Starmer: Will not pressure Ukraine

TT

Updated 12.57 | Published 12.27

            

            

           Keir Starmer.

           1 / 2Photo: Jonathan Brady/AP/TT

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj says that several "sensitive issues" around territories and security guarantees remain to be resolved within the framework of the peace negotiations.

Today, the president is in London for talks with several European leaders, and continues to Brussels this evening.

After the weekend's talks between Ukraine and the United States in Florida, US President Donald Trump criticized Zelenskyj, who he believes is "not ready" to sign peace proposals from the United States.

And it is the issue of territories that continues to be the major stumbling block, Zelenskyj explains in a telephone interview with Bloomberg.

No pressure

Ahead of the meeting in London, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer explains that the peace must be just and lasting. He will not push for Ukraine to sign an agreement that does not meet those requirements.

– I will not pressure the president, Keir Starmer tells ITV.

The meeting will also be attended by French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

The latest proposals are not public, and Starmer explains that the London talks are also taking place behind closed doors.

– The four of us will have the opportunity to go through the various issues, do it in private and make progress, he tells the PA news agency.

No straight path

At least in early versions of the peace plan, the US has been heavily criticized for uncritically swallowing the Moscow regime's picture of the conflict. But Starmer still praises Trump.

– You can never go from conflict to peace along a simple, straight path.

– What President Trump has managed to achieve in recent weeks, to get this far, is the furthest we have come in four years.

From London, Zelenskyy will continue to Brussels, where he will be received by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President António Costa. Peace talks will continue there this evening over dinner.