Downing Street has contradicted Donald Trump’s latest claims about the war in Ukraine.
The US president has said he believes Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to “give up” Crimea in exchange for peace – despite the Ukrainian leader explicitly ruling that out.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, but the Black Sea peninsula is constitutionally part of Ukraine.
Trump made his comments while flying back to America from Pope Francis’ funeral, where he held one-to-one talks with Zelenskyy in the Vatican.
Asked if he thought Zelenskyy was ready to “give up” the peninsula, Trump replied: “Oh, I think so.”
Keir Starmer also had a meeting with the Ukrainian president in Rome, where the pair “discussed positive progress made in recent days to secure a just and lasting peace in Ukraine”, according to No.10.
Asked this morning whether the prime minister agreed with Trump’s latest assessment of the Ukrainian position, the PM’s spokesman refused to echo the US president.
He said: “We’ve always said that when it comes to Ukrainian sovereignty it’s a matter for Ukraine. It’s for President Zelenskyy to speak to those matters.
“It’s up to Ukraine to determine its own future.”
Meanwhile, Starmer today called on Russia to agree to an “unconditional ceasefire”.
He said: “It’s got to be lasting, because I don’t trust Putin, I think if it’s not a lasting ceasefire he will come back for more and we mustn’t allow that to happen again. It’s happened in the past.
“That’s why I have been clear about the role that the UK and others have to play in Europe, but we did make good progress in London last week and we have got to build on that now.”