No deal without us

Zelensky refuses to be cut out of talks | Keir: We'll do our bit to curb Russians

- CHRIS HUGHES, MIKEY SMITH and SOPHIE HUSKISSON

DEFIANT Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected any peace talks if Ukraine is sidelined by America and Russia.

Stung by news that Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin had talked for an hour about ways to end the three-year war, he called the phone call "not very pleasant".

President Zelensky's remarks came as Britain led European support for Ukraine and warned that failure to stand by the embattled country would embolden Putin.

Trump has talked of cutting military aid to Kyiv. He ditched three years of Washington policy, which turned Putin into a pariah, by announcing he would soon meet the Russian president to negotiate a peace deal.

And he spoke to Zelensky only after calling the Kremlin.

The Ukrainian leader vowed not to "allow everything to go according to Putin's plan".