Sir Keir Starmer did not attend a crucial meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders ahead of the Ukrainian President’s talks with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday. No 10 has said Sir Keir was absent due to “diary pressures”. Jonathan Powell, the UK’s national security adviser, represented Britain on the call.
The Ukrainian president held a call with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, and Poland on Saturday night. Mr Zelensky will attend a summit with the US president on Sunday to focus on how to bring the war to an end. The meeting is considered a seismic moment in the nearly four-year conflict with Russia.
Downing Street said Mr Powell regularly attends the meetings to represent Britain, adding that other European national security advisors were also on the call. Downing Street sources stressed that Sir Keir regularly speaks to Mr Zelensky and other world leaders, but was not able to join the meeting on Saturday due to “diary pressures”, The Telegraph reported. They also said Sir Keir spoke to the French, German and Italian leaders on Friday and is involved in “constant diplomacy”.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, Giorgia Meloni, the Italian PM, Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, Donald Tusk, the PM of Poland, and Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary-general all joined the call.
After the meeting, Mr Zelensky wrote on X: “During our call, we discussed our current progress along the diplomatic track. We went over the most important priorities together.
“Ukraine values all of the support. Tomorrow, after the meeting with President Trump, we will continue our discussion.
“Strong positions are needed both at the front and in diplomacy to prevent Putin from manipulating and evading a real and just end to the war.
“The world has sufficient strength to guarantee security and peace.”
Earlier, Mr Zelensky claimed the new peace plan was “about 90% ready”, adding that he would put the latest version of the peace plan to a referendum if the Kremlin agrees to a ceasefire lasting at least 60 days.
