
US ‘ready to support’ Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky says after call with Donald Trump | BBC News
BBC News• 14:27
Ukraine's President Zelensky says the US is ready to support us after a call with Donald Trump and European leaders. The talks in Berlin come ahead of Friday's Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. Well, they're being hosted today by the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and chaired by the UK Prime Minister Kirstarmer. Moscow has already dismissed the European diplomatic initiative as insignificant. Well, the German Chancellor talked to the media in the last hour and said that
sovereignty of Ukraine had to be respected. He also said more pressure would be needed if there was no movement from Russia.
The American president knows that if he wants to reach peace in Ukraine,
he can rely on his European and Ukrainian partners to work on that together. Ukraine has to sit at the table. We want to make sure that the right chronology happens, that there is a ceasefire and that there is an agreement that is discussed after that. A legal recognition of Russian ownership of this territory cannot happen. There have to be robust security guarantees. The sovereignty of Ukraine has to be respected.
Negotiations have to be part of necessary pressure on Russia. If there is no movement on the Russian side, we and the US have to put more pressure on Russia. President Trump knows this position and largely agrees with it. And we had a good conversation with each other. We wished President Trump all the best.
We said we would speak to him after his meeting with President Putin. There is hope for movement. There is hope for peace in Ukraine. We're doing everything from European and German perspective to give any chance
through diplomacy to end this terrible war.
Well, alongside the German Chancellor was of course Ukraine's President. Now, he spoke about the importance of security guarantees and said if a ceasefire isn't agreed, then Russia should face more sanctions.
Everything regarding Ukraine needs to be discussed with Ukraine. We have to be part of this conversation. First of all, a ceasefire, security guarantees,
we need to know.
By the way, President Trump supported us today, and the US is ready to support us. is And increasing sanctions on Russia if they are not agreeing to cease fire. I told the American president and all of our Europeans, Putin is bluffing. He is trying to push all over, he is pushing all over the front line. Russia is pretending they can occupy entire Ukraine, but it is not true. I But also, they have three times more losses in people. I have been talking to Trump, European colleagues, that Putin doesn't want peace, he wants to occupy our country.
And we understand it. Putin cannot fool us. We need to pressure him. Sanctions not only from the U.S., but also from the European Union. Together, our union of partners can really, really stop Putin's war. We were discussing the Alaska meeting.
We really hope that the ceasefire, immediate ceasefire, will be one main issue. During this meeting President Trump has been talking about it. Then he suggested that he will contact me immediately after his Alaska meeting and he will tell me about all results, if there are any results, and then we will discuss our steps together.
Well, the latest in the last 60 minutes from that news briefing. I want to show you the live pictures coming to us from Fairford because that's the US airbase and in the next little while we're going to see the US Vice President JD Vance. He of course has been in the UK on a trip. He saw the Foreign Secretary just a few days ago and he is going to talk to American troops there at Fairford in Gloucestershire.
And so we are monitoring that. We shall see if he talks about Ukraine and the latest positions that we're hearing coming out of the White House and Donald Trump after that conversation with European leaders. So we have those pictures coming into the BBC. As soon as there's movement there, we'll obviously return. But I also want to bring on to the programme our political
correspondent Harry Farley. He is waiting to talk to me in Westminster and our correspondent in Washington, Arunande Mukherjee, also waiting to talk to me. I'm going to head to Westminster first and to Harry because Keir Starmer chaired that meeting between European leaders. What is number is it that came out of that?
In the last few minutes we have had a statement from Downing Street. What I think is interesting about it is this tightrope that we have seen repeatedly with this coalition of the willing and how it responds to actions taken by the US President. On the one hand, not wanting to irritate him, on the one hand, going out of their way, in fact, to praise and to thank him, while at the same time, making clear where they differ.
So in the statement that we've had from Downing Street in the last few minutes, it says that they thanked President Trump for his efforts in bringing Putin to the table in pursuit of a ceasefire. And then it goes on that said the prime minister was clear that the UK's support for Ukraine is unwavering.
But then he goes on to say international borders must not be changed by force and Ukraine must have a robust and credible security guarantee to defend its territory as part of any deal. And actually in the last minute or so, we've also we've heard directly from the prime minister speaking at the top of that meeting. And he said there had been some real progress in relation to security guarantees.
He didn't elaborate on that. We don't know any details of what that means. But he said that it was this coalition, this group of countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Finland, that coalition stepping up, but alongside the backing of the US.
So I think it will be interesting to see if any further details of what that security guarantee, what progress towards that might look like. But on the one hand, Downing Street, as I say, going out of their way to thank, to praise the US president while also being clear on areas that they differ,
particularly on the idea of any talks about borders and ceasefire coming alongside a security guarantee and that borders must not be changed by force.
Harry, I'll come back to a couple of those points in a moment. On security guarantees, in that news conference, Chancellor Merk saying that we spoke briefly about security guarantees, we know Ukraine needs security guarantees, what they look like, that is not really part of the extensive conversations today. So they have obviously marked that area as something they need to sort out, but of course all the focus is on the ceasefire. So that was what
the German Chancellor said. Let me go to Arunadale in Washington. And Arunachale, a very positive meeting there from European leaders saying they're of one voice. They spoke there to Donald Trump. Give me a sense of where you think the White House is in all of this, certainly around territory, because rather confusing, almost contradictory statements
coming out of the White House and Donald Trump himself over recent days.
Absolutely Matthew and I think you know President Trump is expected to speak in a short while from now at another event so perhaps there would be some more question answer in that based on what he spoke and perhaps we might get a sense of what he's thinking after that phone call. But ahead of that phone call President Trump made it very clear that you know he'll be speaking to these great leaders of Europe who all want to see a deal done.
He's been talking about this. And essentially, the messaging from the White House is that, look, this needs to happen with a great deal of urgency. But having said that, the statement from President Trump yesterday was significant, where he said that, look, this is also just going to be also a listening exercise. He's going to get a sense of where Vladimir Putin is, how serious really he is, is the messaging from there.
But now, based on this meeting with the European leaders, the intention, of course, was to wish President Trump for that meeting, but also make it very clear that these are the non-negotiables when it comes to Ukraine and the European leaders, making that message very clear to the U.S. president. So Donald Trump will be going into that meeting knowing what is something that would be agreeable and what would be not, especially in the context of what he's already said, talking about the
swapping of territories, which has been the real concern, which is why you have seen those very strong statements coming out of Ukraine, as well as the European leaders, who have talked about the sovereignty of Ukraine cannot be questioned. That is very clear. Now, when you look at what Vladimir Putin in the past has said, well, we have seen the kind of demands that he has made. So, he is probably going to be adamant on that.
So, it would be very interesting to see what kind of middle path, if at all, President Trump is able to find. And just a few more statements that have been coming in. We have just heard an interview of the U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, who essentially also said that, look, there is a great deal of agency to get this done, but this has been a war that has been going on for a very long time, and it can't just come to an end overnight. This is going to be President Trump gauging the situation, gauging the intentions of President Vladimir Putin, understand what he wants and then going back.
So I think there's going to be a lot of back and forth, but certainly, you know, optimism. But as I keep saying, there is cautious optimism.
Arunoday, returning to what we were hearing out of Westminster, Keir Starmer saying there's a viable chance of reaching a ceasefire in Ukraine, but also Britain stands ready to increase pressure on Russia if necessary. Where do you think Donald Trump is when it comes to sanctions, to pressure, if there is not real headway on Friday? Because Putin, of course, is the master of muddying the waters.
Look, you know, to that, I'm just going to directly talk about what Scott Besson, the Treasury secretary, had to say earlier on, where he made it very clear all options were on the table. He said President Trump is a leader who is able to create leverage for himself when he has these kind of negotiations. Well, as far as Scott Besant is concerned, all options are on the table.
But there would be some quarters who would be questioning what exactly happens next, given the fact — and if we go back, on the 8th of August, which was the deadline that President Trump had set for Russia to come to the talking table and agree to a cease-fire agreement, that passed, because that was the same day when they discussed the — or they announced the fact that they will be meeting. So, the conversation about secondary tariffs or even sanctions sort of was overshadowed with the fact that both these leaders are meeting. So, given the past, and so far, President Trump has threatened sanctions against Russia, but in a second term, he has not actually gone ahead with those plans, everything will
depend on sort of how the meeting really progresses, whether there are any kind of successful forward steps that are taken, based on which we will perhaps be able to see if there is appetite. But if there is a sense that is created that, look, these are leaders who are talking, you know, they're going to go back to the European leaders and Ukraine and then come back. So perhaps in that window, there could be a possibility that President Trump, as we've seen in the past, sort of gives a little more time before he actually takes that option.
But from the Trump administration, at least officially, the line is that all options are
still on the table. Harry, a question about sanctions. I just read out what the Prime Minister has said, but it was interesting in that news conference, Chancellor Mertz was asked if there is a ceasefire, would sanctions be lifted? And that's a really interesting point, because I was mentioning to Arun today that Putin was a master of muddying the waters. If we get to a situation where there is some sort of progress, I suppose certainly from what the White House has suggested in the past, they're quite keen to push business interests
with Russia. So are we clear where we are with sanctions when it comes to Europeans?
Not immediately, no, Matthew, to be honest. And the language, as you say, coming out of Downing Street is more in the opposite direction, that they are prepared to increase, not decrease, sanctions on Russia. If there was a ceasefire, I think
there will be a no-deal situation. Whether they are eventually unwound, my understanding is that they take quite some time to do it. It would take quite some time to do it. It would take quite some time to do that. So any impact would not be likely immediate. I suppose stepping back and more broadly,
out of those European leaders on that call today, it's Keir Starmer who has seen to have the closest relationship with Donald Trump. And number 10, Danny Street, right back at the start of his premiership when he first made that initial trip to Washington that they were clear they wanted to establish a strong
relationship with the White House and with Donald Trump not just for domestic reasons and we saw part of that with some of the trade agreements that have been reached but also for international purposes particularly around Ukraine and been reached but also for international purposes particularly around Ukraine and this is perhaps the most the biggest test of that relationship.
Get ultra fast and accurate AI transcription with Cockatoo
Get started free →
