British Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised President Donald Trump during a gathering of European leaders ahead of the U.S.-Russia meeting in Alaska.
Starmer, who has maintained a tense but friendly relationship with the White House, championed Trump for arranging the meeting in Anchorage on Friday.
“For three and a bit years this conflict has been going, we haven’t got anywhere near … a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire,” Starmer said. “Now we do have that chance, because of the work that the president has put in.”
The virtual gathering brought together European leaders from the “Coalition of the Willing,” an alliance of nations including Germany, Italy, Poland, and Finland that have thrown significant support behind Ukraine in its war with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was also on the call, as well as representatives of NATO and the European Union.
The coalition “thanked President Trump for his efforts in bringing Putin to the table in pursuit of a ceasefire to end to the ongoing bloodshed,” according to a read-out from Starmer’s office.
However, Starmer has maintained that Ukraine should approve and benefit from any tenants of a peace deal with Russia. In particular, land swaps cannot be imposed on the Ukrainian government, and accommodations must be made to ensure the country’s future security in the event of a ceasefire.
“The Prime Minister was clear that our support for Ukraine is unwavering — international borders must not be changed by force and Ukraine must have robust and credible security guarantees to defend its territorial integrity as part of any deal,” the read-out said.
Messaging from the White House about the Alaska meeting has been mixed, at times tempering expectations for a breakthrough and at others voicing sincere hopes for a ceasefire to be agreed on.
“I think we’re going to know very early in that meeting whether this thing has any chance of success or not,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Zelensky is expected to take part in a follow-up trilateral meeting at some point in the near future.