Ukraine's allies rally around Zelensky at crucial summit

7Starmer told Europe's leaders they must all "step up" to help achieve and enforce peace. 

Justin Tallis/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

 The West is at a “crossroads in history,” Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer told European leaders at a pivotal summit in London on Sunday, as the continent sought to wrestle control of negotiations over the Russia-Ukraine war away from the US and present a united front amid a meltdown in relations between Kyiv and Washington.

”This is not a moment for more talk. It’s time to act,” Starmer said after a monumental day of diplomacy in London, which saw leaders on the continent attempt to forge a path towards a ceasefire in Ukraine.

The urgency of the summit in London’s ornate Lancaster House was heightened after US President Donald Trump chastised Zelensky in the Oval Office, appalling the West and delighting Moscow in the process. Zelensky and an ensemble of European leaders were attendance, at a moment of intense anxiety in the conflict.

Starmer told reporters he was working with France and a small number of other nations to craft a plan to stop the fighting, which would then be presented to the US.

The process seems destined to rival the negotiation process that Trump’s administration opened with Russia last month, and suggests a tacit acceptance that bringing Trump and Zelensky to the negotiating table together could result in tensions combusting once more.