Sir Keir Starmer has held private calls with European leaders to ensure the Western alliance does not fracture, a minister has said, after Donald Trump claimed Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a “dictator”.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Wilfred Frost on Sky News Breakfast the prime minister has spent a “quite considerable amount of time” over the past few days talking privately to European leaders “to make sure that the alliance doesn’t fracture”.
The conversations come ahead of a meeting with Mr Trump in Washington DC next week after the president said Ukrainian leader Mr Zelenskyy was a dictator.
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He also said Mr Zelenskyy “better move fast or he is not going to have a country left” as peace talks between the US and Russia – without Ukraine – took place in Saudi Arabia.
The decision for the talks to take place without Kyiv or Europe has caused concern and sparked an emergency meeting of European leaders in France earlier this week.
Sir Keir backed the Ukrainian president in a phone call with him and said he was “Ukraine’s democratically elected leader”.
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Ms Nandy said Sir Keir has been very clear Mr Zelenskyy is not a dictator and added: “As always, we stand with Ukraine.”
She said the UK government was “very encouraged” by the US saying no options are off the table when it comes to Ukraine peace talks.
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Ms Nandy added: “We want to, bring partners together around the table and it looks increasingly likely that will be possible – both Ukraine, Russia, the Europeans ourselves and the United States.
“We can’t do this without any of those partners and that’s why the prime minister has spent quite considerable amount of time in the last few days having those private conversations with our allies to make sure that alliance doesn’t fracture, that we stand as one and we find the right solution for Ukraine, which in the end will be in the interests of the British people.”
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In an X post about Sir Keir’s call to Mr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian leader said: “The United Kingdom’s role in fortifying Europe’s defence and security is important for us.”
The “UK’s support matters indeed, and we will never forget the respect the British people have shown for Ukraine and our citizens”, he added.
Western officials have signalled the UK and other European countries could deploy under 30,000 personnel to Ukrainian cities, ports and nuclear power plants as part of a peacekeeping deal.
Former head of the British Army, Lord Dannatt, has said about 100,000 troops would be needed.
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Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel also told Sky News Mr Trump was “wrong” about calling Mr Zelenskyy a dictator.
But she said he had made “some very significant points consistently” about Europe “stepping up when it comes to defence spending”.
Dame Priti added: “We should now look to show some leadership when it comes to defence spending, corralling our European allies, NATO, leading NATO to basically say to our NATO allies as well in Europe, this is our moment again, yes, to continue the support towards the people of Ukraine, President Zelenskyy, in this conflict, but also step up on that entire agenda of military security and defence.”
