Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky embraced British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in a hug before hours-long talks on the ‘Victory Plan’ and military support in London on Thursday.
Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in London from Croatia on Thursday, the second engagement on his whistlestop tour of European capitals this week, drumming up support for his defensive war against the Russian invasion. The Ukrainian delegation met with the British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the new head of NATO Mark Rutte, the British defence minister, the head of the British armed forces, and Starmer’s national security advisor inside Downing Street for around two hours.
Whille the talks may or may not have been fruitful for Ukraine, they are unlikely to have completely made up for the planned summit with President Joe Biden and Western leaders in Germany on Saturday that has been cancelled because of Hurricane Milton.
Before the talks, Sir Keir said of Zelensky’s second visit to the British Prime Minister’s official residence just in the past few months: “very good to welcome you back to go through plans, to talk in more detail about the work we can do together”. Zelensky replied for his part: “Me and my team give thanks to the UK people, the people of your great country, for your strength in us from the very beginning of the war. Today I want to share with you the details of the victory plan, we can count on you, thank you.
That a potential Presidential election win by Donald Trump could see him follow through on his promise to bring peace to the region is much of the mind of President Zelensky and his backers in this meeting was widely reported, with the Ukrainian apparently very keen to put his country into the most favourable possible position for any peace talks. His counter-invasion of Russia which started in the late Spring and which saw Ukraine take swathes of Russian territory has very likely been part of this bid, seeking to gain bargaining chips should the end of the conflict suddenly emerge.
The Associated Press in their reportage was typical of the articulation of these points, stating: “the plan seeks to strengthen Ukraine “both geopolitically and on the battlefield” before any kind of dialogue with Russia”. These foreign capital visits remain important for Zelensky given the predicted drop in financial aid to the country from its international partners reported by Germany’s Kiel Institute this week.
The contents of the meeting was not briefed and what exactly Zelensky’s ‘Victory Plan’ means has not been made public, but NATO chief Rutte said after the meeting that the potential use of long range missiles to strike deep inside the Russian hinterland was again discussed. Getting permission to use the cruise missiles Kyiv has already been given to strike Russian airfields and facilities far beyond the front line has been a key Ukrainian ambition for months, but Washington is not enthusiastic and other nations like the United Kingdom are reluctant to move unilaterally.
Having had meetings in London on Thursday morning, Zelensky is moving onto others in France and Italy in the afternoon. These will be followed in turn by an audience with the Pope in the Vatican on Friday, and meetings in Germany that afternoon. A major conference at the U.S. Rammstein base in Germany on Saturday has been cancelled and postponed, pending the U.S. President having free time.
Zelensky had spoken to south-eastern European leaders at a conference in Croatia on Wednesday. Outlining the purpose of his whistlestop European tour, he said then: “Weakness of any of our allies will inspire Putin… That’s why we’re asking [the West] to strengthen us, in terms of security guarantees, in terms of weapons, in terms of our future after this war. In my view, he only understands force.”
