Zelenskyy says minerals deal is ready to be signed as he seeks to move conversation on from White House spat – live

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When Zelenskyy spoke to reporters at Stansted before flying out of the UK, he seemed in good spirits, Reuters reports.

Zelenskyy said he did not think the US would stop its assistance to Ukraine because as “leaders of the civilised world” they would not want to help Putin.

But he said he remained prepared for any outcome.

“As regards salvaging the relationship, I think our relationship will continue,” Zelenskyy said, speaking via a translator.

Zelenskyy waves as he departs from the summit at Lancaster House. Photograph: ABACA/REX/Shutterstock

Some more details have emerged about Zelenskyy’s meeting with King Charles at Sandringham.

The president and the king had tea together for nearly an hour.

Zelenskyy arrived on the estate by military helicopter and then was taken by a motorcade through the grounds to Sandringham House, where the king greeted him at the doorstep.

They embraced and shook hands before chatting briefly and posing for photos, PA news agency reports.

The monarch then received Zelenskyy in Sandringham’s Saloon room, where tea was served.

Zelenskyy later posted on X that he was “grateful to His Majesty Charles III for the audience”, alongside pictures of the Ukrainian flag and the union jack.

King Charles and Volodymyr Zelensky shake hands ahead of their meeting. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

Some more photos from today’s summit:

King Charles meets Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Sandringham.
Photograph: Joe Giddens/Reuters

Keir Starmer during a press conference after the European leaders’ summit. Photograph: Julian Simmonds/PA

Household Division guards before the summit at Lancaster House in London. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/EPA

Leonid Slutsky, chair of Russia’s lower house’s committee on international affairs, has said the summit would not save Zelenskyy, Reuters reports.

“The London summit will not save the ringleader of the Ukrainian Nazis,” Slutsky wrote on Telegram. “Zero results, a failed attempt to restore the clown’s political reputation after his resounding failure in Washington.”

A Russian politician dismissed the summit in London today for producing “no plan” to settle the war in Ukraine and said Kyiv’s only hope for the future was an improvement in ties between Moscow and Washington, according to Reuters.

Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee of Russia’s upper house of parliament, derided the outcome of the London meeting as “a desperate attempt to pass off as success the failure of a 10-year policy of inciting Ukraine towards Russia by the same Great Britain and, until recently, the United States”.

“Europe has no plan,” Kosachev wrote, “And if Ukraine should count on something, it can only be on progress (if there is any to come) in Russian-American relations.”

He said Zelenskyy and Starmer “cannot fail to understand this”.

Former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, writing on X before the end of the summit, dismissed it as a “coven ... to swear allegiance to the Nazi nobodies in Kiev” and a “shameful sight”.

What we know after London summit – summary

As we approach 11pm in London and midnight in Europe, here’s a recap of all the latest events.

• Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, sought to move the conversation forward from his difficult meeting with the US president, Donald Trump, on Friday saying it was “best left to history”, as he signalled Ukraine’s readiness to sign the minerals deal and hoped for “constructive” talks with the US administration on the next steps.

• Speaking to reporters after frantic 72 hours, Zelenskyy drew his red lines by saying he would not accept giving any occupied territory away to Russia and insisted on remembering that Russia was the aggressor in the conflict.

• The Ukrainian leader said the country needed strong security guarantees or otherwise would face the risk of Russia seeking to restart hostilities with false claims about Ukrainian violations, as it did in the past.

• Zelenskyy said he hoped that a UK-French initiative for peace would bear fruit “in coming weeks”, with a number of other countries declaring their interest in being involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine.

• His comments come after French president, Emmanuel Macron, floated the idea of a one-month limited ceasefire that would apply to air, sea and attacks on critical energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy didn’t offer any suggestion if he would accept the proposal, but said he was “aware of everything”.

• British prime minister, Keir Starmer, earlier announced details of a new £1.6bn UK export finance contract for Ukraine allowing it “to buy more than 5,000 air defence missiles” to help the country’s defence against Russia, as he concluded a London summit with European, Turkish and Canadian leaders.

• Starmer also confirmed plans to form “a coalition of the willing” to enforce a potential peace deal in Ukraine, which he said the UK was prepared “to back with boots on the ground and planes in the air”.

• Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, said a number of Nato countries signalled their plans to increase defence spending, as he urged media to “stop gossiping about what the US might or might not do”, and insisted the country remained committed to Nato.

• Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said he hoped the EU’s plans to be unveiled next week would “send a very clear impulse showing Putin and Russia that no one here, in the west, intends to surrender to his blackmail and aggression”.

• Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, offered a passionate defence of Zelenskyy, saying that in his comments in the Oval Office on Friday “he pointed out in so many words that Vladimir Putin is a liar and a criminal and cannot be trusted to keep his word in any way”.

That’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, but our coverage here continues, so stay with us.

Czech Republic looks to increase defence spending to 3% GDP

Separately, Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, said in a video update after today’s summit that he will work to increase the country’s defence spending to 3% GDP, from 2.1% in the latest Nato figures.

He also said that leaders taking part in the London talks agreed they would continue to support Ukraine “because the best security guarantee for the future is a strong Ukraine and a strong Ukrainian army”.

Zelenskyy was also asked about Lindsey Graham’s comments suggesting he should consider resigning the post of the Ukrainian president after his spat with Trump on Friday.

In response, he said he could offer Graham a Ukrainian citizenship, and only then his suggestions on this would “gain weight”.

But until then, the president of Ukraine will continue to be chosen by Ukrainians only, he said.

In another exchange, he added that he would be willing to exchange his presidency for a Nato membership for Ukraine, which he repeated would be the best security guarantee for the country.

What happened in Oval Office ‘best left to history’, Zelenskyy says

Zelenskyy refused to say what happened after the cameras stopped rolling in the Oval Office on Friday, and before he abruptly left the White House without having lunch or signing the minerals deal.

It has been reported that Trump’s team asked Zelenskyy to leave, though the Ukrainian president said it was best “to leave this to history”.

Security guarantees needed so Russia cannot violate peace deal again, Zelenskyy says

Speaking about the security guarantees for Ukraine, Zelenskyy stressed the importance of them being strong enough to be convincing for ordinary Ukrainians, who have first-hand experience of seeing previous agreements violated by Russia.

He raised concerns that if there are no hard guarantees, Russia would soon rush to restart hostilities, falsely claiming that the Ukrainians violated the deal.

“And who will win it that case? Russians. Not us for sure, not the US for sure … not the European colleagues, for sure,” he said.

Defiant Zelenskyy refuses to apologise to Trump, but wants to move conversation forward

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during the European leaders’ summit to discuss Ukraine, hosted by Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer, at Lancaster House in London. Photograph: Toby Melville/AP

A defiant but tactful President Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused to apologise to Donald Trump after Friday’s spat in the White House, and declared that the row in the Oval Office “did not bring anything positive” to peace for Ukraine.

Speaking to journalists only in Ukrainian at the end of a two-day visit to the UK, the president said that when such delicate negotiations are held in public “foes can take advantage of them” though he said he hoped the row would eventually pass.

The Ukrainian leader would not say whether he believed he had been ambushed when he was berated by the US president and the vice-president, JD Vance, and insisted he would talk to Trump again if “invited to solve the real issues”.

However, when he was asked if would go back to the White House to “try again” to obtain clearcut US support in talks to end the three-year war with Russia, Zelenskyy said sharply he hadn’t “come to try” on his most recent visit.

He added: “I travelled in the train for 12 hours, then for 11 hours I flew because the president of the US invited me. The US is one of our main partners, and for me it is a show of respect to be in the White House when the president of the US invites me.”

Zelenskyy was speaking just before flying out of the UK, which came immediately after the disastrous White House meeting on Friday, where he was accused of not being grateful for US military support and told Ukraine could not win the war.

The Ukrainian leader said that were no communications at his level with the White House since the meeting, but said that a deal for the US to jointly exploit minerals in his country was now ready to sign.

He also said that he believed that an Anglo-French-led peace effort, discussed by European leaders in London on Sunday, would bear fruit “in the coming weeks” and indicated there were supportive declarations from other countries – such as Turkey, the Balts and the Nordics – to get involved.

The conference in London also discussed “what security guarantees could be given to Ukraine”, Zelenskyy said, adding that there had “been a very good start” in Sunday’s discussion, and a number of countries would soon “speak for themselves”.

But while he said he was aware of a proposal from France and Britain to for a one-month truce in the fighting, he would not say if he supported it. Speaking at the end of the interview he gave his only answer in English: “I am aware of everything.”

Ukraine “will never” recognise any Russian annexation of territory it occupies, even if it is to try to secure a peace deal, Zelenskyy added, and he repeated that he would only accept a ceasefire if it was followed by robust security guarantees that had the confidence of his country’s people.

Though Russia has said it will insist on incorporating territories that it occupies, for Ukraine it would always be “a temporary occupation”, Zelenskyy insisted, even if his country lacks the military muscle to expel Russia from all of the country at the moment.

​Zelenskyy said what he wanted “from partners” – a clear reference to the US White House – was for them to remember that Russia launched the full-scale invasion of his country three years ago. He did not want politicians rewriting history, he said, to suggest “that there are two parties in this war and it is vague who the aggressor is”.

The Ukrainian president appeared to provoke Trump on Friday when he had said that Putin “hates us” and “thinks we are not a nation”. Trump had spoken in Putin’s defence, and appeared to blame Zelenskyy for being embroiled in the war with his larger neighbour.

The Ukrainian leader refused to say what happened after the cameras stopped rolling in the Oval Office on Friday, and before he abruptly left the White House without having lunch or signing the minerals deal. It has been reported that Trump’s team asked Zelenskyy to leave, though the Ukrainian president said it was best “to leave this to history”.

Ukraine wouldn’t agree to give occupied territories away to Russia, Zelenskyy says

Zelenskyy also rejected a suggestion he could sign a peace deal giving away the Russian occupied territories, saying it would be “a forceful separation of our lands” and “a coercion” risking further hostilities in the future.

“I think that those countries … supporting us, or perhaps that want to be intermediaries in this war, [that] they understand that if the war is ended in an unfair way, then it will be a matter of time before people will try to get this justice,” he said.

“We don’t want anything that does not belong to us,” he stressed.

Our defence and security editor Dan Sabbagh was in the room where Ukraine’s Zelenskyy debriefed the press on the events of the last few days.

We will bring you his first report shortly.

Zelenskyy says minerals deal is ready to be signed as he seeks to move conversation on from White House spat

Asked by reporters about his White House trip on Friday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy talked about the difficulty of conducting any sensitive negotiations in public.

In a clip broadcast by the BBC, he said that it “was not right” to hold such talks completely open, as “foes can take advantage” of any disagreements between allies.

He said he did not want to talk about the spat, but instead was focused on moving on to “constructive” talks about the future.

“If we are constructive, the positive result will come,” he said.

He was also asked if he was ready to “go back and try again” to discuss these issues with Trump, prompting a reaction from Zelenskyy.

“I did not come to try. I travelled in the train for 12 hours, then I flew for 11 hours, because the president of the United States invited me, and that is one of our main partners. For me, it is a gesture of respect to be in the White House, when the president invites me,” he said.

He insisted that he never meant to “insult” anyone, and was always focused on bipartisan talks with all parties in the US.

But he said that it was “very important for me that Ukrainian position is heard”, but his focus was on moving on for “constructive” engagement with the US.

Zelenskyy said the deal on minerals was now ready to be signed.

The president also insisted on remembering that Russia was the aggressor in this conflict, and said he “would not want this war … to be presented in some new light, that there are two parties at war, and it is vague who is the aggressor.”

Notably, Zelenskyy spoke through an interpreter, and refused to speak in English.

Ukraine's Zelenskyy giving his reaction after turbulent week

We are now getting first comments from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy who spoke with reporters before leaving London, after 48 hours in the UK.

I will bring you the key lines shortly.

Macron suggests limited one-month truce ‘in air, on seas and in attacks on energy infrastructure’

French president, Emmanuel Macron, said he and Keir Starmer suggested a one-month truce “in the air, on the seas, and on energy infrastructure” to get more time to de-escalate the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

Macron said that a limited truce was needed, as he conceded it would be “very difficult” to police a complete ceasefire given the length of the frontline.

In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, he suggested that any deployment of European troops on the ground would only follow later, “not in the coming weeks”, once the two sides negotiate the details of the deal.

“We want peace. But we don’t want it at any price, without guarantees,” he said.

Macron also spoke about the need to relax EU fiscal rules to allow countries to spend more, and use “innovative” financing to fund defence spending.

The French president suggested that EU countries should aim to spend 3 to 3.5% of GDP on defence spending to meet the current needs, way above the existing 2% Nato target.

Friedrich Merz backs Starmer and Macron’s efforts on Ukraine

Presumed next German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, reacted to today’s summit in London thanking Britain’s prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron for their efforts to “bring a lasting and just peace to Ukraine”.

“Your efforts are key to build bridges across the Atlantic. We have to remain united in our goal to end Russia’s war of aggression,” he said.

Europe works together on ‘basis for cooperation with America,’ Zelenskyy says on social media

Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, posted a brief update after today’s talks on his social media accounts, acknowledging “the strong support for Ukraine and our people”.

He said that European leaders were working together to create “a reliable basis for cooperation with America for the sake of real peace and guaranteed security”.

He said that European unity was “at an extremely high level”, not seen in “a long time.”

He also expressed his thanks to “all our friends and partners” for their support.