U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy spoke to U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance on May 2. The two officials reaffirmed a shared desire to end Russia's war against Ukraine, Lammy said.
Donald Trump was told Putin was "disrespecting him by consistently breaking the ceasefire he claimed to be implementing," one source told Politico.
European nations would struggle to deploy even 25,000 troops to Ukraine as part of a proposed multinational “deterrence” force, far short of the 64,000-strong target suggested by U.K. defense officials, the Times reported on April 30 citing undisclosed European defense sources.
The diplomatic meetings come after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met privately with U.S. President Donald Trump at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican earlier on April 26.
"It’s got to be a ceasefire that is on terms that all parties can accept, including Ukraine," U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said.
Instead of placing troops near the front lines, the U.K. and France now reportedly aim to send military trainers to western Ukraine, fulfilling a commitment to deploy personnel without engaging in direct defense roles.
"Today’s measures will also cut Russia's war machine off from innovative British tech, world-leading software, and close loopholes exploited by (President Vladimir) Putin's cronies," the U.K. Foreign Ministry said.
The meeting was to be held at a ministerial level, but was downgraded after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled his participation.
"We are grateful to the UK for its leadership and support. We will discuss ways to strengthen Ukraine and guarantee long-term peace and security," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.
The meeting will take place at a lower level than planned, as top U.S. and European diplomats are skipping the event amid reported disagreements on key points of the U.S. peace plan.
Chief diplomats of the U.K., France, and Germany have suspended their plans to attend the talks in London on how to end Russia's war against Ukraine, Sky News reported on April 23.
"We are ready to move forward as constructively as possible, just as we have done before, to achieve an unconditional ceasefire, followed by the establishment of a real and lasting peace," President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote.
BAE’s new facility in Glascoed, South Wales, set to open this summer, will deliver a 16-fold increase in 155 mm shell production compared to pre-Russia-Ukraine war levels.
"Ukraine has committed to a full ceasefire. We urge Russia to do the same."
Iran filed a case at the International Court of Justice on April 17, seeking to overturn a ruling by the International Civil Aviation Organization that held Tehran responsible for the 2020 downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet.
With the start of Donald Trump's second term in office, NATO finds itself on shaky ground — reports that the U.S. president might cut the alliance's funding do little to ease fears. A leaked White House memo revealed plans to slash the U.S. State Department funding for the next
The United Kingdom would support a potential German decision to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine, the Telegraph reported on April 16, citing an undisclosed British foreign policy official.
The U.K. transferred 752 million pounds ($990 million) to Ukraine under a G7 loan covered by Russian assets to buy air defense and artillery, the British government announced.
“I am not going to deny it, but I wonder whether we really have an interest in following all the British submarines with very old outdated nuclear warheads... all these threats are extremely exaggerated,” Ambassador Andrei Kelin told the BBC.
President Donald Trump's Special Envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has clarified his comments in an interview with the Times on April 11, where he seemingly suggested that Ukraine could be partitioned into separate zones as part of a peace deal with Russia.
The meeting of the Ramstein-format coalition in Brussels comes amid growing uncertainty over U.S. support for Ukraine and efforts by European allies to close the gap as Kyiv resists Russia's ongoing invasion.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky would join the meeting, co-chaired by Germany and the U.K., through a video conference, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told journalists.
The U.K., France, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and another unnamed country stand ready to send their soldiers, while other leaders want to see a more detailed plan before making commitments, AFP reported.
Military planners in London and Paris believe such a deployment could discourage Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching future offensives.
The U.K. and Norway are set to provide a 450 million pound ($585 million) military aid package to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on April 10.
Prince Harry visited the Superhumans Center, a facility in Lviv that provides prosthetics and rehabilitation to Ukrainians wounded by war. The trip was only announced after Harry had already left Ukraine.
"This is not a peacekeeping force that will separate the currently warring sides down the line of contact," U.K. Defense Minister John Healy said after a "coalition of the willing" meeting in Brussels on April 10.
A London court found the 48-year-old guilty of circumventing sanctions between February 2023 and January 2024 on six out of seven counts.
The Trump administration has ruled out U.S. participation in the so-called "reassurance force," but London and Paris sought to convince Washington to at least provide airpower, intelligence support, or border surveillance as a backstop to the coalition's efforts.
Revolut, the London-based digital bank, has suspended registration of new customers in Ukraine, a company press office told The Kyiv Independent on April 9.
The U.K.'s Defense Ministry also received credible intelligence suggesting that superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs could have been used for underwater reconnaissance, according to the Sunday Times.
"There is tangible progress and initial details on how the partner security contingent might be deployed," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
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