Zelenskyy meets key allies in London aiming to build on strikes on Russia

Keir Starmer welcomes Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Street on Sunday. Photograph: Hugo Philpott/UPI/Shutterstock View image in fullscreen Keir Starmer welcomes Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Downing Street on Sunday. Photograph: Hugo Philpott/UPI/Shutterstock Zelenskyy meets key allies in London aiming to build on strikes on Russia Keir Starmer hosts Ukrainian, French and German leaders in Downing Street amid optimism in Kyiv over state of war Volodymyr Zelenskyy met his staunchest allies at Downing Street on Sunday night, hours after a Russian drone strike damaged a storage centre for spent nuclear fuel nine miles from the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. Keir Starmer welcomed Zelenskyy, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz for a meeting to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine as the country seeks to capitalise on a series of strikes on key Russian positions. The leaders of the so-called E3 group of nations – the UK, France and Germany – gathered after a week of heightened hostilities and after Vladimir Putin rejected Zelenskyy’s proposal of face-to-face talks on Moscow’s war. The UK and France are leading a “coalition of the willing” initiative to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace process. Before the meeting, Zelenskyy vowed that Ukraine would not “silently die”. He told Sky News: “We will respond. We will be stronger and stronger each day.” He said talks would focus on support for Ukraine and cooperation on air defence “for the security of all of Europe”. Zelenskyy, who will meet King Charles on Monday, thanked the UK and Ukraine’s other allies, who he said in a social media post were “helping us strengthen the protection of life and increase pressure on Russia for its aggression”. The meeting followed a series of devastating Ukrainian strikes on targets inside Russia, including Vladimir Putin’s home city of St Petersburg. Long-range Ukrainian drones hit an oil terminal and a nearby naval port last week, sending black smoke billowing into the sky. The attacks began hours before the start of the city’s international economic forum. Speaking at the event on Friday, Putin rejected an offer made in an open letter by Zelenskyy to hold face-to-face talks. He said his war goals were unchanged and there was “no point” in holding peace negotiations. Zelenskyy described Putin’s response as “weak”. He said Ukraine’s deep strikes would continue against targets in Russia. The letter, the first Zelenskyy has publicly written directly to Putin since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, was fiercely critical of the Russian leader’s 26 years in power. He acknowledged shifting US priorities, saying it would be wrong to wait for the Trump administration to return its attention to ending the Ukraine war while it remained heavily focused on the Iran war. “The world has not grown tired of Ukraine, as you long hoped it would. But there is growing fatigue with Russia,” Zelenskyy wrote to Putin. The mood in Kyiv is increasingly optimistic. On