![\"Zelenskyy](\"http:\/\/swiftnewsy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_3578.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m very happy that his majesty the king accepted my meeting tomorrow and we are very happy in Ukraine that we have such a strategic partner,\u201d he added. \u201cWe count on your support.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UK and Ukraine signed a loan agreement worth \u00a32.26 billion ($2.84bn) on Saturday to support Ukraine\u2019s defence capabilities, which London called a sign of \u201cour unwavering and ongoing support for the Ukrainian people\u201d.<\/p>\n
The two countries\u2019 finance ministers, Rachel Reeves and Sergii Marchenko, signed the loan at a virtual ceremony as Starmer met Zelenskyy. It is to be to be paid back with the profits of immobilised sovereign Russian assets.<\/p>\n
Starmer\u2019s office said earlier that he would meet Zelenskyy in London on Saturday before a wider summit of European leaders on Sunday, which Downing Street said will focus on shoring up support for \u201csecuring a just and enduring peace\u201d in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s summit is also expected to address the need for Europe to increase defence cooperation amid fears about whether the US will continue to support Ukraine or NATO.<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is ready to \u201copen the discussion\u201d on a possible future European nuclear deterrent after a request from Friedrich Merz, who is expected to be Germany\u2019s next chancellor.<\/p>\n
Merz has stressed the need for the continent to move quickly to \u201cachieve independence\u201d from the US on defence matters.<\/p>\n
Al Jazeera\u2019s Milena Veselinovic, reporting from London, said the summit will take on an even \u201cmore heightened importance\u201d after Friday\u2019s acrimonious meeting during which Trump accused Zelenskyy of being \u201cdisrespectful\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cEuropean leaders are now contending with a real prospect of the US no longer supporting Ukraine militarily or perhaps withdrawing some of that support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe European leaders really need to see if they can step up to the plate and if they can defend Ukraine on their own \u2013 something that many analysts believe would be a very tall order and a big challenge for Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump-Zelenskyy row<\/p>\n
During the Oval Office dispute in front of US and international media, Trump and Vice President JD Vance angrily spoke over Zelenskyy, accusing him of not being \u201cthankful\u201d and refusing to accept their proposed peace terms.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have the cards right now,\u201d Trump said. \u201cYou\u2019re either going to make a deal or we\u2019re out, and if we\u2019re out, you\u2019ll fight it out, and I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most European leaders were stunned by Friday\u2019s altercation and rushed to Zelenskyy\u2019s defence.<\/p>\n
European Union leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa assured Zelenskyy that he was \u201cnever alone\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe strong, be brave, be fearless,\u201d wrote the European Commission and European Council presidents in a joint statement, adding: \u201cWe will continue working with you for a just and lasting peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Macron said Russia is the \u201caggressor\u201d in the Ukraine war and Ukrainians are the \u201caggressed people\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were all right to help Ukraine and sanction Russia three years ago and to continue to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Merz said, \u201cWe must never confuse the aggressor and the victim in this terrible war.\u201d<\/p>\n
While most European leaders seemed to side with Zelenskyy, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, backed Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cStrong men make peace, weak men make war. Today President [Trump] stood bravely for peace,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n
Trump stunned many in Europe when he reached out to Putin last month to seek a deal on Ukraine, which Moscow invaded three years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer embraced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and told him he had the nation\u2019s unwavering support a day after Zelenskyy\u2019s public spat at the White … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23049,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23047\/revisions\/23049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}