Starmer embraces Zelenskyy in London ahead of Alaska crunch talks

Zelenskyy's UK visit comes ing his trip to Berlin to attend virtual meetings with European leaders and US President Trump to discuss the strategy for talks taking place between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Alaska, where they will discuss ending the war in Ukraine.Ben Stansall - WPA Pool/Getty ImagesBritish Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to London on Thursday in a show of the U.K.’s support for Ukraine a day before a critical U.S.-Russia summit is set to take place in Alaska

The two embraced warmly outside Starmer’s offices at 10 Downing Street without making any s

Around an hour later, Starmer walked Zelenskyy back to his waiting car, and the two leaders d another embrace as the Ukrainian president departed

Zelenskyy’s trip to the British capital came a day after he took part in virtual meetings from Berlin with U.S

President Donald Trump and the leaders of several European countries

Those leaders said Trump had assured them he would make a priority of trying to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday in Anchorage

Both Zelenskyy and the Europeans have worried the bilateral U.S.-Russia summit would leave them and their interests sidelined, and that any conclusions reached could favor Moscow and leave Ukraine and Europe’s future security in jeopardy

Yet some of those leaders, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, praised Wednesday’s conference with Trump as constructive

Speaking after the meetings to reporters, Trump warned of “very severe consequences” for Russia if Putin does not agree to stop the war against Ukraine after Friday’s meeting

Territorial integrity The Kremlin on Thursday said the meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska will start at 11:30 a.m. local time

Putin’s foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters that Trump and Putin will first sit down for a one-on-one meeting ed by a meeting between the two delegations

Talks will then continue over “a working breakfast,” Ushakov said

Putin on Thursday held a meeting with top government officials on the upcoming summit

In a short released by the Kremlin, he said that Trump’s administration was making “quite energetic and sincere efforts to stop the hostilities” and to “reach agreements that are of interest to all parties involved in this conflict.” Putin also suggested agreements could be reached with the U.S. “in the area of control over strategic offensive weapons at the next stage.” Starmer on Wednesday said the Alaska summit would be “hugely important,” and could be a path to a ceasefire in Ukraine

But he also alluded to European concerns that Trump may strike a deal that forces Ukraine to cede territory to Russia, and warned that Western allies must be prepared to step up pressure on Russia if necessary

During a call Wednesday among leaders of countries involved in the “coalition of the willing” — those who are prepared to help police any future peace agreement between Moscow and Kyiv — Starmer stressed that any ceasefire deal must tect the “territorial integrity” of Ukraine. “International borders cannot be, and must not be changed by force,’’ he said, adding that robust security guarantees must accompany any ceasefire to ensure that “Ukraine can defend its territorial integrity.” Macron: Trump willing to in security guarantees Kyiv has long insisted that safeguards against future Russian attacks vided by its Western allies would be a precondition for achieving a durable end to the fighting in Ukraine

Yet many Western governments have been hesitant to commit to engaging their military personnel

Countries in the “coalition of the willing,” which include France and the U.K., have been trying for months to secure U.S. security backing should it be required. ing Wednesday’s virtual meetings, Macron said Trump told the assembled leaders that while NATO must not be part of future security guarantees, “the United States and all the parties involved should take part.” “It’s a very important clarification that we have received,” Macron said

Trump did not reference any U.S. commitments to viding security guarantees during his s to reporters on Wednesday

Some Ukrainians skeptical With another high-level meeting on their country’s future on the horizon, some Ukrainians expressed skepticism that any breakthroughs would be achieved during Friday’s U.S.-Russia summit

Oleksandra Kozlova, 39, who works at a digital agency in Kyiv, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she believes Ukrainians “have already lost hope” that meaningful gress can be made on ending the 3 1/2-year-old war. “I don’t think this round will be decisive,” she said. “There have already been enough meetings and negotiations mising us, ordinary people, that something will be resolved, that things will get better, that the war will end

Unfortunately, this has not happened, so personally I don’t see any changes coming.” Anton Vyshniak, a car salesman in Kyiv, said Ukraine’s priority now should be saving the s of its military servicepeople, even at the expense of making territorial concessions. “At the moment, the most important thing is to preserve the s of male and female military personnel

After all, there are not many human resources left,” he said. “Borders are borders, but human s are priceless

Therefore, some principles can be disregarded here.” Russia and Ukraine trade strikes Russian strikes in Ukraine’s Sumy region overnight Wednesday resulted in numerous injuries, Ukrainian regional officials said

A missile strike on a village in the Seredyna-Budska community injured a 7-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man, according to regional governor Oleh Hryhorov

The girl was hospitalized in stable condition

In the southern Kherson region, Russian artillery fire struck the village of Molodizhne on Thursday morning, injuring a 16-year-old boy, regional governor Oleksandr kudin said

In Russia, an oil refinery in the Volgograd region caught fire after a Ukrainian drone attack overnight, according to local governor Andrei Bocharov

The refinery, one of the biggest ducers of petroleum ducts in southern Russia, has been a frequent target of drone attacks, according to Russian independent news site Meduza. ___ Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels, Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine and Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia contributed

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