Trump bringing end of Ukraine war closer than ever, says Starmer

Donald Trumps actions have brought the end of the war in Ukraine "closer than ever before", Sir Keir Starmer has said.

The Prime Ministers statement comes despite the fact that the US president and Vladimir Putin failed to reach a deal on a ceasefire at a summit in Alaska on Friday.

He also said the "path to peace in Ukraine" cannot be decided without Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky, and that the UKs "unwavering support" will continue as long as it takes.

The highly-anticipated meeting between Trump and Putin had been pitched as an important step towards peace in Ukraine, but no concrete agreements were made.

In the wake of the Anchorage summit, the prime minister spent Saturday morning speaking to western allies.

Following the calls, he said in a statement: "I welcome the openness of the United States, alongside Europe, to provide robust security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal.

"President Trumps efforts have brought us closer than ever before to ending Russias illegal war in Ukraine.

"His leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended," Sir Keir said.

Until Putin stops his "barbaric assault", that allies would "keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even more sanctions", he added.

A Downing Street source told the BBC that any peace deal needed security agreements and "US involvement is a key part of that".

Following a call with Trump on Saturday, Zelensky called for a lasting peace, "not just another pause between Russian invasions".

Zelensky is due to fly to Washington DC on Monday to meet Mr Trump, with the aim of paving the way to further talks.

He stressed that Kyiv should be included in future discussions, and said he expected Russia to "increase pressure and strikes" in the coming days to "create more favourable circumstances for talks with global actors".

Prior to the event, it was believed that Trump had hoped to secure a peace deal from the talks in Alaska. Speaking to Fox News Radio on Thursday, Trump said that the meeting had only a 25% chance of failure.

Despite walking away with no ceasefire and no overall deal, President Trump insisted "some great progress" was made, with "many points" agreed and "very few" remaining.