Zelenskyy heads for talks with UK’s Starmer after Biden summit axed

London trip comes just after key meeting at which Ukraine was set to present a “victory plan” was postponed.

Oct 9, 2024 - 22:00

LONDON — Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to the United Kingdom on Thursday for talks with Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as Ukraine continues to press allies for more military support in its fight against Russia.

The Ukrainian president will visit Starmer for the second time since the British PM took office in July.

It comes as Western powers mull whether to grant Ukraine’s request to fire long-range weapons into Russia — and just after a key summit at which Ukraine was set to present a “victory plan” was postponed. Zelenskyy will also meet with the leaders of France, Germany and Italy in the same 24-hour period, his office said.

Starmer’s official spokesperson said Wednesday that the PM will be “reiterating the U.K.’s ironclad support for Ukraine in the face of ongoing Russian aggression.”

NATO’s new Secretary-General Mark Rutte will also meet Starmer and Zelenskyy in London, Downing Street confirmed. It marks the first international trip in the role by Rutte, who stressed last week that Kyiv’s right to self-defense “does not end at the border.”

It comes after a key summit of allied countries, aimed at coordinating more military support for Ukraine and planned for this weekend, was canceled as the United States’ President Joe Biden focuses on the domestic response to Hurricane Milton, currently bearing down on Florida.

At the end of a three-day trip to Germany, Biden was due to chair a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a loose alliance of more than 50 countries known as the Ramstein Format, named for the air base in which it is usually held.

Unlike in the U.S., both major parties in the U.K. have stressed their backing for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pushback against Russia. | Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images

“The October 12, 2024 event is postponed,” the U.S.-managed Ramstein Air Base said in an emailed note on Wednesday. “Announcements about future Ukraine Defense Contact Group meetings will be forthcoming.”

Britain’s Starmer has tried to demonstrate his country’s staunch support for Ukraine since taking office.

Unlike in the U.S., both major parties in the U.K. have stressed their backing for Zelenskyy’s pushback against Russia, although a recent trip to Washington, D.C. by Starmer yielded no breakthrough on the use of long-range, Storm Shadow missiles.

Asked if the Downing Street trip means a shift on the use of Storm Shadows is about to be confirmed, Starmer’s spokesperson said Wednesday that there is no update to the U.K.’s position.

Joshua Posaner contributed reporting.