Ukraine: Zelenskyy meets with UK’s Starmer after Trump clash Story

[Deeq A.]

Volodymyr Zelenskyy met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London on Saturday, a day after Ukraine’s president had a heated exchange with Trump. DW has more.

Zelenskyy made an impromptu stopover in London after an unprecedented heated exchange with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday
Zelenskyy made an impromptu stopover in London after an unprecedented heated exchange with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday
© Kin Cheung/AP/picture alliance
UK PM Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met at Downing Street The Ukrainian president is set to meet with King Charles on Sunday before meeting European leaders Zelenskyy says it’s ‘very important’ for Ukraine to be heard after a tense meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday European leaders have reiterated their support for Zelenskyy

Here are the developments relating in Russia’s war in Ukraine on Saturday, March 1:

Zelenskyy arrives at Downing Street
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived at Downing Street to meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“We stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Starmer said shortly after the president’s arrival, adding that Zelenskyy is “very welcome here.”

Zelenskyy thanked Starmer for his country’s support and expressed his gratitude for an invitation to meet with King Charles on Sunday.
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The two did not mention US President Donald Trump.

Before he met with Starmer, the Ukrainian leader was in Washington on Friday to sign an expected deal on Kyiv’s rare minerals and mark a new chapter in the Ukraine-US relationship.

Instead, the meeting blew up in front of the cameras in the Oval Office where Trump berated Zelenskyy for not being “ready” for peace with Russia.

Zelenskyy to meet King Charles on Sunday
UK media has reported that King Charles will welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Sandringham estate on Sunday.

Following the televised White House showdown with US President Donald Trump, Zelenskyy has landed in London to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Downing Street before a summit with European leaders on Sunday.

Earlier this week, Trump accepted an invitation delivered by Starmer for an “unprecedented” second state visit to meet King Charles in Scotland.

Video: Did Trump, Vance premeditate clash with Zelenskyy?
Tyson Barker, a foreign policy analyst who recently served in the Biden-Harris administration working on Ukraine, told DW that the Oval Office clash was “in some ways a produced moment.”

He called the intervention by US Vice President JD Vance “highly irregular,” adding that “there needs to be considerations whether or not this was premeditated.”

Barker told DW that Vance is playing the “bad cop” in the Trump administration, hinting at the US Vice President’s speech lambasting European leaders at the Munich Security Conference a few weeks ago.

According to Barker, it’s hard to imagine that Vance made such “condescending” comments to Zelenskyy “without the explicit predetermined permission of his boss.”

During the heated debate at the White House on Friday, Vance asked Zelenskyy: “Have you ever said ‘thank you’ once?” He also lectured the Ukrainian leader: “It’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media.”

Neither Ukraine nor the US benefit from Zelenskyy-Trump spat, former Ukraine PM tells DW
Ukraine’s former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said “there’s only one person who completely benefitted” from the heated exchange between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday.

And “it’s Putin, war criminal Putin,” he told DW, adding that, “neither Ukraine nor the Trump administration benefit from this.”

He called on Ukrainians, along with their European allies, to “urgently step up” in order to “have Americans back on track.”

Yatsenyuk warned autocracies worldwide will be emboldened if the US abandons Ukraine. “We need to do our best to have Americans back in the game to help them to lead the free world… Otherwise, dictators and autocrats like Putin, China, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea and the rest of the gang, they will depose the United States from this leadership position.”

He also stressed that Americans need to realize that Russia is an “anti-American and anti-free world country,” pointing to several US attempts in recent decades to reset relations with Moscow.

When asked if he was hopeful that a peace deal could be signed soon, Yatsenyuk said: “I am hopeful that Ukraine will win this war and I am hopeful that the free world can handle this and the peace will be achieved.”

NATO chief: Zelenskyy must ‘find a way’ to fix ties with Trump
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy must “find a way” to restore his relationship with US counterpart Donald Trump, NATO chief Mark Rutte told the BBC on Saturday, a day after Zelenskyy and Trump clashed at the White House.

Rutte said that he had told Zelenskyy: “You have to find a way, dear Volodymyr, to restore your relationship with Donald Trump and the American administration.”

The NATO chief also said that the US, Ukraine and Europe need to “stick together” in order to secure a “durable peace” in Ukraine.

German President Steinmeier criticizes Trump for Zelenskyy spat
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier slammed US President Donald Trump following Friday’s dramatic events at the White House involving Trump, US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“Diplomacy fails when negotiating partners are humiliated in front of the world,” Steinmeier told the German news agency DPA on Saturday during a flight to Uruguay.

“The scene at the White House yesterday took my breath away. I would never have believed that we would ever have to defend Ukraine from the United States,” Steinmeier said.

He also stressed that Europeans “must prevent Ukraine from having to accept subjugation.”

German foreign minister says ‘new era of infamy has begun’
Germany’s outgoing Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a “new era of infamy has begun” and that European countries must massively increase their defense spending to face the changing strategic landscape.

She made the comments a day after a heated discussion at the White House between Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump in front of the world media.

Baerbock called for Germany to work closely with Poland, France and others in Europe to bolster Ukraine’s defense.

She also called on Germany to release an additional €3 billion ($3.1 billion) in aid for Ukraine.

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, also from Baerbock’s Green Party, made a similar appeal, calling for the speedy release of the financial aid.

“In order to secure the necessary support for Ukraine, we should now do what we can in the short term,” he said.

Russia calls Zelenskyy’s trip to US a ‘complete failure’
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s trip to the United States had been a complete “failure.”

The statement came a day after Zelenskyy engaged in a heated exchange with US President Donald Trump at the White House.

Zelenskyy’s trip “is a complete political and diplomatic failure of the Kyiv regime,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

She added that Zelenskyy wants to continue the war and rejects peace. Russia launched the war of invasion in February 2022.

Russia also said its goals in Ukraine remained unchanged.

“Russia’s unchanging goals remain the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine, as well as the recognition of the existing realities on the ground,” Zakharova said, referring to the parts of Ukraine that Russia has illegally annexed.

Zelenskyy to meet Starmer in London
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday, ahead of a wider gathering of European leaders in London on Sunday.

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

Zelenskyy arrived in the UK following a heated exchange with US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the White House.

Zelenskyy says it’s ‘very important’ for Ukraine to be heard
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said it is very important “that Ukraine is heard and that no one forgets about it.”

The comments came after he had a heated discussion with his US counterpart Donald Trump and US Vice President JD Vance at the White House on Friday.

“It is important for people in Ukraine to know that they are not alone, that their interests are represented in every country, in every corner of the world,” Zelenskyy wrote in Ukrainian on messenger app Telegram.

Separately, in a series of posts on X, he also said he was “very grateful to the United States for all the support” it has so far provided to Ukraine.

“I’m thankful to President Trump, Congress for their bipartisan support, and American people. Ukrainians have always appreciated this support, especially during these three years of full-scale invasion,” he wrote on social media platform X.

He said it was “crucial” for Ukraine to have Trump’s support.

“Our relationship with the American President is more than just two leaders: It’s a historic and solid bond between our peoples. American people helped save our people,” he said.

“We want only strong relations with America and I really hope we will have them,” he added.

How did Europe react to the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting?
Ukraine’s European allies rallied behind Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the Ukrainian president’s heated exchange with US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Friday evening.

Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that “Ukraine can rely on Germany and on Europe,” while the country’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz stressed that Germany will “stand with Ukraine in good and in testing times.”

“We must never confuse aggressor and victim in this terrible war,” Merz wrote on X.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Ukrainians that they are “not alone.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had spoken to both Trump and Zelenskyy following the clash and vowed “unwavering support” for Kyiv.

The UK is also organizing a summit on Sunday where representatives from over a dozen European countries are expected to take part.

London said the meeting will focus on shoring up support for “securing a just and enduring peace” in Ukraine.

The gathering will also address the need for Europe to increase defense cooperation amid fears over whether the United States will continue to support NATO.

What happened during Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump? – recap
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his US counterpart Donald Trump openly clashed during their meeting at the White House on Friday.

It began after Zelenskyy pressed Vice President JD Vance to explain what he meant by engaging in diplomacy with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

Vance responded by telling the Ukrainian leader, “I think it’s disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media.”

Trump then openly berated Zelenskyy for not being “thankful,” and later accused the Ukrainian leader of “not being ready for peace” and having “disrespected” the US.

“You’re not acting at all thankful. It’s not a nice thing,” the US president said, when Zelenskyy pushed for security guarantees. “It’s going to be very hard to do business like this,” he added.

“You’re gambling with the lives of millions of people. You’re gambling with World War III, and what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country that’s backed you far more than a lot of people say they should have,” Trump said.

“You’re either going to make a deal, or we’re out, and if we’re out, you’ll fight it out. I don’t think it’s going to be pretty,” Trump added.

After the heated exchange in the Oval Office, Trump broke off talks with Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian leader left the White House without signing a critical minerals deal that had been negotiated by the two sides in recent days.

Source dw.com

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