Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz in London on Sunday to discuss urgent air defence needs following Russian hypersonic strikes on Ukraine. Downing Street said the leaders agreed on the need to scale up production of interceptors and co-develop anti-ballistic missile and deep-strike capabilities.
The meeting came hours after a Russian drone strike damaged a storage centre for spent nuclear fuel near the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. The leaders condemned Russia’s large-scale missile and drone attacks and called for an immediate and complete ceasefire, with the current line of contact as a starting point for negotiations.
Starmer and Zelenskyy continued talks for half an hour after Macron and Merz departed, before posing for photographs outside No 10. The so-called E3 group of nations—the UK, France, and Germany—are leading a “coalition of the willing” to provide security guarantees for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine would not “silently die” and would respond by becoming stronger each day. He thanked the UK and allies for helping strengthen protection of life and increase pressure on Russia. The Ukrainian leader is scheduled to meet King Charles on Monday.
The summit followed a series of Ukrainian deep strikes inside Russia, including on St Petersburg, and Zelenskyy’s open letter to Vladimir Putin proposing face-to-face talks, which Putin rejected. Zelenskyy described the response as “weak” and vowed to continue strikes.
