A meeting in Britain between U.S. Vice President JD Vance, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and representatives from Kyiv made “significant progress” towards ending the war in Ukraine, according to a U.S. official.
During his trip to the United Kingdom, Vice President Vance held talks on Saturday with Ukrainian, European and British representatives at Chevening House, a 17th-century palatial house which serves as the countryside residence of the British foreign secretary in Kent, England.
Hosted by Foreign Secretary Lammy, the meeting was requested by Washington, according to sources familiar with the matter. A U.S. official said that the hours-long meetings made “significant progress” towards achieving President Donald Trump’s goal of bringing an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Speaking from Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “The meeting was constructive. All our messages were conveyed. Our arguments are being heard.”
“The President of the United States has the leverage and the determination. Ukraine has supported all of President Trump’s proposals, starting back in February. A ceasefire – all formats have been supported,” Zelensky added.
The meeting, conducted by VP Vance, came ahead of a planned summit between President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin this week in Alaska, the first meeting between the two leaders since the 2019 G20 meeting in Osaka, Japan.
It currently remains to be seen what involvement, if any, the Ukrainians will have during the Alaska talks, with the White House reportedly not ruling out participation from Kyiv but saying that the focus will likely be on the direct talks between President Trump and Putin.
However, President Zelensky and his supporters in Europe said over the weekend that any peace process must include Ukrainian officials. Zelesnky went on to say on Saturday that his government would refuse to recognise any of its lost territories as belonging to Russia, vowing that Ukrainians will not “give their land to the occupier”. The maximalist position from Kyiv comes despite years of failures to recapture seized territory.
Yet, such a position appears to be favoured by Zelensky’s European backers, including French President Macron, Italian Prime Minister Meloni, German Chancellor Merz, Polish Prime Minister Tusk, UK Prime Minister Starmer, EU Chief President von der Leyen, and Finnish President Stubb.
In a joint statement on Monday, the leaders said: “We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force. The current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations.
“We continue to stand firmly by the side of Ukraine. We are united as Europeans and determined to jointly promote our interests. And we will continue to cooperate closely with President Trump and with the United States of America, and with President Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine, for a peace in Ukraine that protects our vital security interests.”
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