Starmer to Meet Zelenskyy in London After Trump Fallout

Zelenskyy and Starmer will meet as European leaders strategize how to best support Ukraine as the US shifts resources away from Europe to the Indo-Pacific.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (R) shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy upon his arrival for a meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 16, 2025. Carl Court/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on March 1, according to the British leader’s office.

“The Prime Minister and President Zelenskyy will be meeting in Downing Street this afternoon,” a spokesperson for Starmer’s office said Saturday morning.

The meeting will occur ahead of an international summit in London on Sunday in which European leaders are slated to discuss a peace plan for the ongoing war in Ukraine and further coordinate aid to the embattled eastern European nation.

It also comes just a day after a contentious meeting between Zelenskyy and U.S. leadership, in which President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance criticized the leader for not expressing enough gratitude for American support and suggested Washington should cease its support of Kyiv.

The extraordinary spat between Zelenskyy, Trump, and Vance at the White House laid bare the increasing divide between Washington and its once-close allies throughout the world.

In the aftermath, Russian officials praised Trump, while leaders throughout Europe and the Pacific expressed shock, dismay, and resolve to rally around Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s war.

Starmer spoke to both Trump and Zelenskyy in the aftermath of Friday’s dust up, and expressed his “unwavering support” for Kyiv.

The British leader also previously pledged continued support for Ukraine amid declining international involvement by the United States, saying last month that the UK would commit its own troops as peacekeeping forces to Ukraine if such should be required to maintain a peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow.

Starmer said that he is prepared to contribute to security guarantees for Ukraine by “putting our own troops on the ground if necessary” in an article in the British press last month.

“I do not say that lightly,” he added. “I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way.”

Like many leaders throughout Europe, Starmer has pledged to increase defense spending in the face of Russian aggression and the United States’ pivot away from the region.

“We must go further still,” Starmer said during an address to Parliament last week. “I’ve long argued that in the face of ongoing generational challenges, all European allies must step up and do more for our own defense.”

Starmer added that, depending on fiscal conditions and strategic needs, he intends for the UK’s defense budget to rise to 3 percent of its GDP by 2035.

Reuters contributed to this report.