Zelensky holds bilateral, E3 talks with leaders in London

President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to London on June 7 for bilateral talks with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and E3-format discussions with the leaders of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

The talks will focus on Ukraine's defense and European security, as well as the leaders' "common view" on the diplomatic process to end Russia's war.

"Europe should be in the negotiations and should be strong," Zelensky said.

Zelensky held meetings with Starmer, Macron, and Merz the evening of June 7. The president will also meet with the U.K.'s King Charles III on June 8.

The meetings come days after Zelensky published an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin suggesting the two leaders press forward with direct bilateral peace talks.

The letter said that Russia and Ukraine should begin talks directly, but noted that "other specific participants may join the bilateral track that has been started between us."

"We believe that Europe needs to participate — those who really have the ability to influence the situation," Zelensky wrote.

In an interview with U.K. outlet Sky News on June 7, Zelensky reiterated his letter's call to begin a ceasefire by freezing the battlefield lines along their current positions.

"We want to stop the war in a way where the war will not come back," he told Sky News.

"It's not the idea just to freeze, but the quickest way to is to freeze and to move it to a diplomatic setting."

French President Emmanuel Macron said on June 5 that the E3 meetings would focus on how to structure future peace talks.

As "by far the largest contributors to Ukraine's war effort, it is the Europeans who must, at some point, be around the negotiating table for a peace plan," Macron said.

Macron and Starmer have teamed up as leaders of the "coalition of the willing," a group of countries working to coordinate postwar security guarantees for Ukraine. Still, they have been largely sidelined from the U.S.-brokered peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.

While U.S. intervention in the peace process has stalled amid the war against Iran, Zelensky has  sought to revitalize diplomatic negotiations by appealing directly to Russia and creating more room for European involvement.

The Kremlin has recently signaled openness to a European role in diplomacy but proposed Gerhard Schroder as a potential mediator. Kyiv and European officials rejected the idea in May, citing Schroder's longstanding ties to Putin and Russia.

Starmer previously spoke to Zelensky in a phone call on June 3, expressing condolences for Russia's recent mass attacks on Kyiv and discussing London's latest raft of sanctions against Moscow.

During the call, the prime minister said the U.K. "would work in lockstep alongside President Zelensky and international partners to secure a just and lasting peace for the Ukrainian people."