Europe’s coalition of the willing on Ukraine splits on day one: UK wavers on French plan for ceasefire as humiliated Zelensky says he WILL sign mineral deal after Trump bust-up

The UK poured cold water on French proposals for a month-long partial ceasefire in Ukraine today after a crisis summit.

Emmanuel Macron floated the idea following a weekend of frantic diplomacy that culminated in the gathering in London yesterday.

European leaders and Canada were scrambling to thrash out a plan after the extraordinary White House bust-up between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.

That has sparked threats to stop US military support, with claims that the president is demanding a personal apology. Mr Zelensky has stopped short of that while moving to cool the feud, heaping praise on the support the US has given up to now. 

He also told reporters after the summit that Ukraine was still ‘ready to sign’ the minerals deal, and he is ready to return to the Oval Office for discussions. 

As panicking Nato powers adjust to a new reality of a less engaged America, Sir Keir has been trying to mobilise a ‘coalition of the willing’ that could enforce a peace deal.

After a series of calls with Mr Trump, he said he wants to forge a blueprint for ending the war that can be presented to the White House.  

Mr Macron told Le Figaro that France and Britain were looking at a temporary truce that would cover air, sea and energy infrastructure – but not fighting on the ground as it would be ‘very difficult to verify’. 

Mr Zelensky said he was ‘aware of everything’ when asked about the plan. Kyiv has repeatedly warned that Vladimir Putin will just break a ceasefire deal.

However, Downing Street sounded cool on the concept, with insiders insisting there were ‘various options on the table’ and it ‘has not been agreed’. Ministers said they did not ‘recognise’ the specific proposal. 

Mr Zelensky, Sir Keir and Emmanuel Macron in conversation at the summit yesterday

Western allies are trying to get Mr Trump to stand by Ukraine after it was invaded by Russia 

The Kremlin dismissed the prospect as ‘insolent’, saying that the Western allies were ‘throwing around ideas’. 

Sir Keir is expected to make a Commons statement today after his blitz of high-stakes diplomatic action last week.

MPs will be updated on his meeting with Mr Trump in Washington, as well as the emergency defence summit of European leaders.

Sir Keir told European powers they need to do the ‘heavy lifting’ in enforcing any peace deal with Russia, warning they stand at a ‘crossroads in history’.

He committed £1.6billion towards helping Ukraine purchase 5,000 missiles for its defence and invited European leaders to join a ‘coalition of the willing’ led by Britain and France.

Asked about the ceasefire plan, armed forces minister Luke Pollard told Times Radio: ‘No agreement has been made on what a truce looks like, and so I don’t recognise the precise part you mentioned there.

‘But we are working together with France and our European allies to look at what is the path to how… we create a lasting and durable peace in Ukraine.’

Pressed again on whether the UK and France had presented the summit on Sunday with a plan for a month-long ceasefire, he said: ‘You wouldn’t expect me to get into the details of what that plan looks like, because at the moment, the only person that would benefit from those details being put in the public domain before any plan is agreed would be President Putin.’

A different tone was struck by Eleonore Caroit, a deputy in the French National Assembly for the Renaissance party and vice president of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that plans for a ceasefire in Ukraine sent ‘a very strong message’ and showed that ‘if we want, we can do something’.

America is attempting to negotiate an end to hostilities directly with Russia but Sir Keir has insisted European countries must play a key role in enforcing a peace deal and deter Vladimir Putin from breaking it.

The Ukrainian president received a warm welcome to 10 Downing Street on Saturday that contrasted with his fractious encounter in the Oval Office a day before.

That led to him cutting short a trip to the US in which he was supposed to sign a minerals deal with Mr Trump, exchanging rights to natural resources for further American military support.

The bust-up between the two presidents in the Oval Office that was broadcast around the world saw them – and American vice president JD Vance – talking over one another in raised voices.

Mr Trump accused Mr Zelensky of ‘gambling with world war three’ and said he had not expressed enough thanks for US aid in defending his country against Mr Putin’s invasion.

The spat exposed a raw divide between the US and its European Nato allies, who rallied to Mr Zelensky’s side.

But European states have been urging Mr Zelensky to smooth the row. One senior UK government source told The Times that the Ukraine premier must ‘play the game’.

‘Trump wants respect. He needs to see that you understand his view, there is a degree of realpolitik in this,’ they said. 

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social early this morning, Mr Trump urged his followers to ‘spend less time worrying about Putin’ and ‘more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country – So that we don’t end up like Europe’.

Sir Keir told the BBC he had sought to act as a ‘bridge’ and end the feuding, after he held multiple phone calls with Mr Trump, Mr Zelensky and Mr Macron over the weekend.

In a post of his own on X, Mr Zelensky expressed gratitude to Europe and America for the support his country has received since the outbreak of the conflict, but stressed there could be no peace deal without security guarantees.

The summit in London was already planned before the extraordinary on-camera slanging match between Donald Trump, his vice president JD Vance and Mr Zelensky (pictured)

Front row, left to right: Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Keir Starmer, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Poland’s PM Donald Tusk. Centre row from left: Spain’s PM Pedro Sánchez, Denmark’s PM Mette Frederiksen, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU Council President Antonio Costa, Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau and Romania’s interim President Ilie Bolojan. Back row from left: Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, Netherlands PM Dick Schoof, Sweden’s PM Ulf Kristersson. Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Norway’s PM Jonas Gahr Store, Czech Republic’s PM Petr Fiala, Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni and Turkey’s foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. 

He wrote: ‘As a result of these days, we see clear support from Europe. Even more unity, even more willingness to cooperate.

‘Everyone is united on the main issue – for peace to be real, we need real security guarantees. And this is the position of all of Europe – the entire continent. The United Kingdom, the European Union, Turkiye.

‘Of course, we understand the importance of America, and we are grateful for all the support we’ve received from the United States. There has not been a day when we haven’t felt gratitude.

‘It’s gratitude for the preservation of our independence – our resilience in Ukraine is based on what our partners are doing for us – and for their own security.

‘What we need is peace, not endless war. And that’s why we say security guarantees are the key to this.’

Positioning himself as a bridge to the White House, Sir Keir told a press conference that he still regarded America as a ‘reliable ally’. ‘We agree with the president on the urgent need for a durable peace… now we need to deliver together,’ he said. 

However, he stressed that any deal must have ‘strong US backing’ with ‘every nation contributing in the best way it can’.  

Mr Zelensky headed for an audience with the King at Sandringham last night, in another show of solidarity

The comments came after European leaders spent hours trying to thrash out a strategy after the grim scenes in the Oval Office on Friday night.

After embracing Mr Zelensky on the steps of Lancaster House in London, the PM told him ‘we are all with you’ and urged the gathering to step up to a ‘once in a generation moment’.

But there still appear to be huge obstacles to a package that would be accetpable to the US and Ukraine – not least that Russia has yet to agree to beginning talks with Ukraine, and Washington envisages formal ceding of territory while many European states regard that as unacceptable. 

The UK ambassador to the US, Lord Mandelson, told the ABC news channel yesterday that Mr Zelensky must ‘give his unequivocal backing to the initiative that President is taking, to end the war and to bring a just and lasting peace to Ukraine’.

‘I think that Ukraine should be the first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow,’ he said.

The summit was already planned before the on-camera slanging match with Mr Trump and his vice president JD Vance.