The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, received the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, in Downing Street this Monday; the German Chancellor, Friederich Merz; and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. The British Government has been very secretive when defining the content of a meeting that has been focused on the negotiations around the peace plan presented by Washington, “and on the next steps” that must take place.
The three nations that contribute the most to the NATO budget, after the United States, want a more relevant role for Europe in the final decision on the future of Ukraine, and , which proposed an outcome of the conflict largely favorable to Moscow.
Merz, Starmer and Macron wanted to appear before the cameras alongside Zelensky to express a resounding message of support for Ukraine. “We all know that the destiny of your country is the destiny of Europe,” said the German chancellor, the toughest of the three leaders when it comes to assessing the current state of the negotiations. “I’m skeptical about some of the details we’re seeing in the documents coming from the American side, but we have to talk about it, and that’s why we’re here,” Merz said.
This was followed by another one forged in Geneva by delegations from the United States, Ukraine and Europe, which again irritated the Government of Vladimir Putin and led to a blockage of the negotiations.
The subsequent meeting between Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Putin himself, which took place in Moscow and lasted five hours, did not produce any significant progress.
Zelensky arrives at Downing Street after three days of talks in Miami between Witkoff and Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov. “The primary mission of the Ukrainian team was to obtain complete information from the Americans about the conversation in Moscow, as well as about all the drafts handled, in order to discuss them with the president of Ukraine,” Umerov explained on the X social network.
The details of the plan proposed in Miami have not been made public, but the US president again this Sunday expressed his “disappointment” with Zelensky, whom he accused of not having read the draft. “Their people love it,” Trump said. The Ukrainian president has limited himself to answering that he needed to hear the information from his negotiators face to face and in person.
“In this meeting we have to achieve a union between Europe and Ukraine, but also between Ukraine and the United States, because there are things that we cannot manage without the Americans and others in which Europe is necessary. We need to make important decisions,” said Zelensky in Downing Street.
The two most complicated aspects to negotiate would be the possible territorial concessions (Russia claims Donbas, in eastern Ukraine, and “New Russia”, the term coined by the Kremlin for the region that would include areas of southern Ukraine, up to the province of Odessa) and future security guarantees, to prevent a new attack from Moscow.
“There are different visions on the part of the United States, Russia and Ukraine. We do not have a unified vision regarding Donbas,” Zelensky told the Bloomberg agency a few hours before his arrival at Downing Street. The Ukrainian president has also indicated that his Government is pursuing a separate agreement regarding security guarantees, of which he hopes Washington will be a part.
Prime Minister Starmer, who once again rolled out the red carpet in London to welcome Zelensky, also stressed this aspect. “It is important to emphasize that this conflict has lasted almost four years, that Russia is the aggressor country, and therefore, if there is to be a ceasefire, it must be fair,” he told the PA News agency. “Putin does not respect agreements that are not backed by inflexible security guarantees, so we will focus on those aspects,” the British leader said.
Starmer has brought together the two European leaders and the Ukrainian one at a crucial moment, when the Trump Government is once again showing signs of wanting to disengage from the conflict. The National Security Strategy published by Washington last week, with harsh criticism of Europe and not so much of Russia, has meant a new splash of cold water in transatlantic relations. To the point that part of this Monday’s meeting in London has to do with the unavoidable decision that European leaders must make, between trying once again to attract Washington or starting to support Ukraine alone.
“We have good cards in our hand. We have financed Ukraine to obtain equipment and it is resisting, while the Russian economy is beginning to suffer from our sanctions and those of the United States,” Macron said. “I think the main issue now is the convergence between our common positions, between Europeans, Ukrainians and Americans, to finalize these peace negotiations and enter a new phase in which Ukraine is in the best possible conditions,” summarized the French president.
At the end of the meeting, which lasted two and a half hours, the three European leaders effusively said goodbye at the door of Downing Street and in front of the cameras to Zelensky, who was leaving for Brussels to meet with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, and with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von Der Leyen.
