Starmer and Zelensky to meet at No 10 ahead of Trump talks with Putin

Sir Keir Starmer will be joined by the Ukrainian president at Downing Street on Thursday morning, as Europe braces for the outcome of Donald Trump's face-to-face discussions with his Russian counterpart later this week.

The Prime Minister's meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky comes after he said Britain stands ready to "increase pressure" on Russia if necessary.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump threatened Russia with "severe consequences" if a ceasefire was rejected by its leader.

During a call with the US president and European allies on Wednesday, Sir Keir praised Mr Trump for his work to bring forward a "viable" chance of an end to the war.

But concerns have been raised over Mr Zelensky's exclusion from the meeting between the Mr Trump and Mr Putin, which is set to take place in Alaska on Friday.

Speaking on Wednesday, Sir Keir said: "This meeting on Friday that President Trump is attending is hugely important.

"As I've said personally to President Trump for the three-and-a-bit years this conflict has been going on, we haven't got anywhere near a prospect of actually a viable solution, a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire.

"And now we do have that chance, because of the work of that the president has put in."

Further sanctions could be imposed on Russia should the Kremlin fail to engage, and the UK is already working on its next package of measures targeting Moscow, he said.

"We're ready to support this, including from the plans we've already drawn up to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased," he told allies.

"It is important to remind colleagues that we do stand ready also to increase pressure on Russia, particularly the economy, with sanctions and wider measures as may be necessary."

Sir Keir and European leaders have repeatedly said discussions about Ukraine should not happen without it, amid concerns the country is being sidelined in negotiations about its own future.

Asked if it was his decision to not invite Mr Zelensky to the meeting, Mr Trump said "no just the opposite", before adding that a second meeting with the Ukrainian president could take place afterwards.

"We had a very good call, he was on the call, President Zelensky was on the call. I would rate it a 10, you know, very, very friendly," he told reporters in Washington.

He added: "There's a very good chance that we're going to have a second meeting which will be more productive than the first, because the first is I'm going to find out where we are and what we're doing."

The US president has previously suggested a truce could involve some "swapping" of land.

It is believed one of the Russian leader's demands is for Ukraine to cede parts of the Donbas region which it still controls.

But Mr Zelensky has already rejected any proposal that would compromise Ukraine's territorial integrity, something that is forbidden by the country's constitution.

A joint statement from the Coalition of the Willing, which is co-chaired by Sir Keir, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, said "international borders must not be changed by force".

It added: "Sanctions and wider economic measures to put pressure on Russia's war economy should be strengthened if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire in Alaska."

The Coalition of the Willing is a European-led effort to send a peacekeeping force to Ukraine in the event of truce.