Ukraine-Russia latest: Trump says Putin wants to meet him as western allies pledge $2bn aid for Kyiv – UK Times

Prime minister Keir Starmer welcomed the French president Emmanuel Macron to Chequers yesterday evening for wide-ranging discussions over dinner.

Sir Starmer said it was a “privilege” to host Mr Macron, the second world leader to meet the prime minister at his official country retreat since he took office in July.

Describing the meeting as “further evidence of our ability to work well together”, Sir Keir said the pair planned to discuss “a number of issues of concern”, including the situation in Ukraine and the Middle East, while Downing Street has previously indicated that illegal migration, tech and growth would also be on the agenda.

Volodymyr Zelensky said the latest in a series of meetings with Kyiv’s Western allies in Germany had resulted in pledges of an additional $2bn in military assistance to help it fight the war against Russia.

Mr Zelensky, speaking to My-Ukraina television channel after yesterday’s meeting, gave few details of the assistance, but that 34 countries had pledged support in different aspects of the 34-month-old war.

“We had a very good meeting, a very good result. There was $2bn in additional packages of support to Ukraine,” he said in a video posted on the television channel’s Telegram account.

The aid covered air defence, information technology, demining, naval forces, air forces and artillery.

“And all this will strengthen Ukraine,” he said. The president gave no details on which countries had made the pledges.

Donald Trump said a meeting was being set up between him and Russian president Vladimir Putin, but the Republican offered no timeline for talks between the two leaders.

“He wants to meet, and we are setting it up,” Trump said in remarks before a meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

“President Putin wants to meet. He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” Trump said about the Russia-Ukraine war.

Mr Trump’s return to the White House on 20 January has sparked hope of a diplomatic resolution to end Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022, but it has also led to fears in Kyiv that a quick peace deal could come at a high price for Ukraine.