Keir Starmer is gathering his Cabinet today as he braces for a crucial trip to meet Donald Trump and try to repair Western ties.
Fears have been fuelled that the PM is facing mission impossible at the White House after the US took an axe to decades-old alliances – voting with Russia, China and North Korea on UN resolutions about Ukraine.
The president also used an awkward meeting with Emmanuel Macron in Washington to suggest it will be for Europe to provide security in Ukraine if he strikes a peace deal with Moscow, three years after Putin‘s full-scale invasion.
Mr Trump launched a fresh jibe at another erstwhile ally, calling Canadian premier Justin Trudeau ‘governor’ in a reference to his claim that the country should become a US state.
In another worrying sign for Sir Keir, Mr Trump reiterated his intention of imposing ‘reciprocal’ tariffs over VAT – even though it is a sales tax rather than being levied on imports alone.
However, there was a glimmer of hope as America and Ukraine look to be closing in on a deal to develop rare earth minerals. Supporters say that could incentivise the US to defend Kyiv‘s sovereignty.
Keir Starmer (pictured at a Ukraine reception in Downing Street last night) is gathering his Cabinet today as he braces for a crucial trip to meet Donald Trump and try to repair Western ties
Mr Trump used an awkward meeting with Emmanuel Macron in Washington to suggest it will be for Europe to provide security in Ukraine if he strikes a peace deal with Moscow
Sir Keir is expected to have a call with Mr Macron to get tips on how to deal with Mr Trump before his own turn in the Oval Office on Thursday.
European alarm has been mounting over the US direction since Mr Trump’s bombshell phone conversation with Vladimir Putin, unilaterally opening peace talks without involving Ukraine.
The US president has branded Volodymyr Zelensky a ‘dictator’, even elections have only been suspended while Russia occupies around a fifth of the country.
Last night the US joined Russia in voting against a European-drafted UN resolution supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and condemning Moscow’s aggression. It was passed by the General Assembly (UNGA).
A US-drafted resolution at the UN Security Council was then supported by Russia and China, as it backed an end to the conflict but did not include any criticism of Moscow.
The UK and France abstained after attempts to amend the wording were vetoed.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Barbara Woodward warned the council: ‘If Russia is allowed to win, we will live in a world where might is right, where borders can be redrawn by force, where aggressors think they can act with impunity.’
Denmark’s deputy foreign minister Lotte Machon stressed peace negotiations should involve ‘nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine, nothing about European security without Europe’.
The UK marked the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion yesterday by unveiling new sanctions packages.
The Foreign Office announced 107 new designations that include 40 ‘shadow fleet’ ships and 14 ‘new kleptocrats’, including Russian billionaire Roman Trotsenko, as part of the largest sanctions package since 2022.
North Korean officials involved in sending troops to fight for Russia, Kyrgyz bank OJSC Keremet and companies in China, Turkey and India that supply tools and goods to Russia’s military, were also listed.
Boris Johnson sounded optimism about progress on a minerals deal this morning, saying the US will only benefit when there is a ‘free, sovereign and secure Ukraine’.
The former PM told LBC that Ukrainians had ‘kept their cool’ and ‘negotiated very hard’ with US President Donald Trump after initially rejecting a deal that led to an ‘awful ratcheting up of the rhetoric against Ukraine’.
Fears have been fuelled that the PM is facing mission impossible at the White House after the US took an axe to decades-old alliances – voting with Russia, China and North Korea on UN resolutions about Ukraine
US ambassador Dorothy Camille Shea speaks at the UN Security Council. A US-drafted resolution was supported by Russia and China, as it backed an end to the conflict but did not include any criticism of Moscow
Volodymyr Zelensky has voiced hope that a deal can be struck with the US to develop Ukraine’s mineral resources
European alarm has been mounting over the US direction since Mr Trump’s bombshell phone conversation with Vladimir Putin, unilaterally opening peace talks without involving Ukraine
‘I’ve obviously seen some drafts. I’ve seen the latest one today. It contains some very good commitments by the US to the freedom, sovereignty and security of Ukraine … It commits the fund that the Ukraine and the US will set up to long-term investment in the security of Ukraine. There’s good stuff in it.’
He suggested the US would not benefit from the deal unless lasting peace in Ukraine was secured.
‘There’s no way America is going to get its hands on any proceeds from Ukrainian minerals until there is a free, sovereign and secure Ukraine. That is a massive, massive prize, and I think, worth going for.’
The deal is about Mr Trump needing to show ‘the wackos who seem to support Putin … that he’s got something in exchange for American support and long term American support for Ukraine’.
