After London summit, Zelenskyy says US must stay involved in peace efforts

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said yesterday that Ukraine wanted the US to stay involved in efforts to end the war, after a meeting of western allies in London that took place without Donald Trump.

- Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor

The Ukrainian leader chose not to overtly lobby for the supply of US Tomahawk cruise missiles at the meeting of more than 20 mainly European leaders from the "coalition of the willing" as he emphasised the need for the west to work together.

"We are not finding and searching how to stop Putin and how to finish this work without the US," Zelenskyy said at the end of the hybrid meeting aimed at discussing how to step up pressure on the Russian leader before the onset of winter.

He also said that when it came to postwar security guarantees for his country, "we need to have the United States". Warning that "Putin wants to divide us", Zelenskyy said that while Trump had declined to green-light the supply of Tomahawks, western nations had previously "evolved together" by providing Anglo-French Storm Shadow missiles, followed by US Atacms.

It was a hint that he hoped the US president could eventually be persuaded to provide a weapon that he believes could have an impact on Russia's military-industrial complex and change the Kremlin's thinking over whether to negotiate for peace.