British prime minister Keir Starmer has told Donald Trump he wants to see “positive” talks between top US and Ukrainian officials that would pave the way for a resumption of Washington’s military aid and intelligence sharing with Kyiv.
Mr Starmer’s plea for an improvement in ties between the US and Ukraine came during a call with the US president on Monday, as Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, and Ukraine’s president arrived in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah for high-level talks.
“The prime minister said he hoped there would be a positive outcome to the talks that would enable US aid and intelligence sharing to be restarted,” a Downing Street spokesperson said on Monday. The White House has not released its account of the conversation.
Tuesday’s talks in Saudi Arabia come at a pivotal moment, about 10 days after a public spat in the White House between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Mr Trump over the origins of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the future of US aid as Washington tries to broker an end to the conflict.
Mr Trump has since cut off military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv, but Mr Zelenskiy has made some overtures to the White House over the past week, including a pledge to sign a deal giving the US access to Ukraine’s critical minerals, causing some of the friction to ease. Speaking to reporters on his flight to Saudi Arabia on Monday, Mr Rubio said he hoped military aid could be restored.
“I think the notion of the pause in aid, broadly, is something I hope we can resolve. Obviously what happens tomorrow will be key to that,” Mr Rubio said.
Mr Zelenskiy also landed in Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks with the country’s leaders, but was not expected to take part in Tuesday’s meeting in Jeddah.
Mr Trump has faced criticism domestically and internationally for putting too much pressure on Ukraine to make concessions and giving an advantage to Russia in the talks over a peace deal that Washington is running on parallel tracks. Russian and Ukrainian officials have not launched direct negotiations.
While Mr Trump threatened Russia with additional sanctions and tariffs last week, he has remained publicly critical of Mr Zelenskiy – including calling for elections in Ukraine that could lead to his ousting. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida on Sunday, He kept up the pressure on Kyiv.
“I want them to want peace, right?,” the US president said.
“Well, right now they haven’t shown it to the extent that they should. I think right now they haven’t, but I think they will be, and I think it’s going to become evident over the next two or three days,” he said.
Mr Starmer has positioned himself as one of Europe’s crucial players in the conflict, helping together with France’s Emmanuel Macron to smooth Mr Zelenskiy’s relations with Mr Trump and to assemble a coalition of European powers willing to deploy troops to Ukraine to guarantee a peace deal.
A Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister told Mr Trump that UK officials had spoken to Ukrainian representatives at the weekend, receiving assurances from Kyiv that they “remain committed to a lasting peace”.
On Saturday Mr Starmer will host a virtual meeting of a group of mainly European and Commonwealth countries willing to help secure a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow. − Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
