07:28 GMT
Laura Kuenssberg
Reporting from President Zelensky’s media briefing at Stansted Airport
Having been slammed in the White House, then feted in the UK, President Zelensky’s mood, in public at least, was not downhearted.
“If we don’t keep our spirits up, we’re letting everyone down,” he told the media last night before leaving the UK.
He made positive noises about Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron’s plan to grab hold of the plans for peace before presenting them to the US, for Europe to up its game, developing its own more convincing security guarantees.
Zelensky told me he would be prepared to give Donald Trump one of his demands – to sign the minerals deal that would give the US access to some of Ukraine’s resources.
Beyond that, despite all the pressure of a three-year full-scale war, under all the demands from the White House which, fairly or not, has the power to protect or abandon his country, on Sunday night Zelensky stood firm.
He told us it was wrong at this stage to discuss giving up territory Russia has captured, and it was too early to be “talking about lines”, which Starmer had mentioned earlier.
He would not apologise to Trump or express regret for anything that happened in the Oval Office, which at the moment, the US president’s camp is repeatedly calling for.
Even the boss of Nato called for Zelensky to find a way to reset his relationship with the US leader.
Yet in the stuffy room at Stansted, there was not much in Zelensky’s tone that suggested he was interested in making nice.
He said he had travelled for hours to get to the White House – his visit was a mark of respect. He also said he would never “insult anybody” and the conversation as it erupted had not been a positive for anyone.
Zelensky chose his words very carefully. He tried to an extent to avoid a post-mortem of what went on. He was not rude about Trump – he barely mentioned him by name – and suggested tensions would pass.
If you watched the full horror of what happened in the Oval Office you may well not blame Zelensky for feeling it’s simply not for him to say sorry.
Media caption,
Are you aware of truce reports, Zelensky? asks Laura Kuenssberg