Starmer says he refused to criticize Zelenskyy-Trump dispute under pressure

During a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Starmer faced pressure from his entourage to issue critical statements and use "colorful adjectives" to describe the situation.

"On the day in which the Oval Office meeting between President Trump and President Zelenskyy didn’t go particularly well, we were under pressure to come out very critically with, you know, flowery adjectives to describe how others felt," Starmer said.

However, Starmer decided not to yield to this pressure and chose a different path — to act as a mediator, helping both sides find common ground and resolve the conflict.

Starmer sent his national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, to Kyiv to conduct several sessions with President Zelenskyy to help him establish better relations with Trump.

According to Starmer, these meetings were aimed at easing Zelenskyy’s concerns, particularly regarding a ceasefire in the conflict with Russia.

In response to the progress made in Kyiv, Starmer called Trump to discuss next steps and lay the groundwork for a phone call between the two presidents.

This led to Zelenskyy expressing his support for Trump’s peacekeeping efforts.

Trump-Zelenskyy meeting

As a reminder, on February 28, during an official visit to Washington, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Donald Trump at the White House. The negotiations between the leaders became tense due to a dispute over signing a peace agreement and ending the war.

The conflict began after US Vice President J.D. Vance's statement, which emphasized that diplomacy with Russia was the only path to peace. In response, Zelenskyy accused Russia of violating previous agreements, which irritated Trump.

The US president accused Zelenskyy of "playing with World War III."

After the incident, US allies expressed support for Zelenskyy, while Democrats in Congress criticized Trump.