By Sachin Ravikumar
LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Keir Starmer greeted President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with a warm embrace on Saturday after the Ukrainian leader flew to London for talks following his clash at the White House with U.S. President Donald Trump.
In an extraordinary Oval Office meeting on Friday, Trump threatened to withdraw support for Ukraine, three years after Russia invaded its smaller neighbour.
In London, a crowd cheered as Zelenskiy arrived for talks with Starmer at his Downing Street office before a summit of European leaders that the Ukrainian president will attend on Sunday to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine.
“I hope you heard some of that cheering in the street. That is the people of the United Kingdom coming out to demonstrate how much they support you … and our absolute determination to stand with you,” Starmer told him.
Starmer told Zelenskiy he had “full backing across the United Kingdom.”
“We stand with you and Ukraine for as long as it may take,” Starmer said.
Other European leaders also issued messages of support for Zelenskiy and Ukraine after his meeting with Trump, highlighting differences between traditional allies the United States and Europe over the war since Trump returned to office.
Starmer spoke to both Trump and Zelenskiy on Friday, and French President Emmanuel Macron also visited Trump in Washington this week.
Zelenskiy is also due to meet King Charles on Sunday. Britain’s Sun newspaper said the meeting would take place at the monarch’s Sandringham estate in eastern England.
“I’m very happy that His Majesty the King accepted my meeting tomorrow,” Zelenskiy told Starmer at the start of their meeting.
Britain has been a vocal backer of Ukraine and Charles has previously expressed his support for Zelenskiy, speaking of the “determination and strength” of the Ukrainian people in the face of an unprovoked attack from Russia.
During Starmer’s visit to the White House, he presented Trump with a written invitation from the king for a state visit, which would make the U.S. president the first elected political leader in modern times to be hosted for two state visits by a British monarch.
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar, Pavel Polituk and Ronald Popeski; editing by David Evans, Kate Holton and Timothy Heritage)
