Zelenskyy says minerals deal is ready to be signed as he seeks to move conversation on from White House spat – live

This blog is now closing. In the meantime you can read our full report on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to the UK here, all our Ukraine coverage here, and a rundown of key developments below:

• Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, sought to move the conversation forward from his difficult meeting with the US president, Donald Trump, on Friday saying it was “best left to history”, as he signalled Ukraine’s readiness to sign the minerals deal and hoped for “constructive” talks with the US administration on the next steps.

• Speaking to reporters after frantic 72 hours, Zelenskyy drew his red lines by saying he would not accept giving any occupied territory away to Russia and insisted on remembering that Russia was the aggressor in the conflict.

• The Ukrainian leader said the country needed strong security guarantees or otherwise would face the risk of Russia seeking to restart hostilities with false claims about Ukrainian violations, as it did in the past.

• Zelenskyy said he hoped that a UK-French initiative for peace would bear fruit “in coming weeks”, with a number of other countries declaring their interest in being involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine.

• His comments come after French president, Emmanuel Macron, floated the idea of a one-month limited ceasefire that would apply to air, sea and attacks on critical energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy didn’t offer any suggestion if he would accept the proposal, but said he was “aware of everything”.

• British prime minister, Keir Starmer, earlier announced details of a new £1.6bn UK export finance contract for Ukraine allowing it “to buy more than 5,000 air defence missiles” to help the country’s defence against Russia, as he concluded a London summit with European, Turkish and Canadian leaders.

• Starmer also confirmed plans to form “a coalition of the willing” to enforce a potential peace deal in Ukraine, which he said the UK was prepared “to back with boots on the ground and planes in the air”.

• Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, said a number of Nato countries signalled their plans to increase defence spending, as he urged media to “stop gossiping about what the US might or might not do”, and insisted the country remained committed to Nato.

• Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said he hoped the EU’s plans to be unveiled next week would “send a very clear impulse showing Putin and Russia that no one here, in the west, intends to surrender to his blackmail and aggression”.

• Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, offered a passionate defence of Zelenskyy, saying that in his comments in the Oval Office on Friday “he pointed out in so many words that Vladimir Putin is a liar and a criminal and cannot be trusted to keep his word in any way”.

• After the summit, Zelenskyy also met with King Charles at his estate in Sandringham, where the pair had tea together for nearly an hour. The visit has been seen in Westminster as an attempt to even out treatment of the Ukrainian and US presidents after Starmer invited Donald Trump for a state visit last week.

‘We understand the importance of America,’ Zelenskyy says

An oil refinery in the Russian city of Ufa is on fire, the state-run Ria news agency is reporting, citing the regional branch of Russia’s emergency ministry.

The ministry said there was no threat to nearby residents according to Ria.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire but Ukraine’s Kyiv Post suggested it was a Ukrainian drone strike, writing on X “Russian air defense has failed. Again.”

It was not possible to verify either report independently. Ufa is in the republic of Bashkortostan, hundreds of miles from the border with Ukraine.

As leaders finished their talks in the UK, the war in Ukraine continues. A Russian drone struck a multi-storey apartment building late on Sunday in Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, triggering a fire and injuring eight people, the city’s mayor said. Reuters reports:

Kharkiv resisted capture in the early days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and has since been a frequent target of air attacks. A medical centre was damaged in one of several drone strikes in the city on Friday.

Mayor Ihor Terekhov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the fire triggered by Sunday’s attack spread to several apartments on the top floor of the building.

None of the injured had required hospital treatment, he said. Three other residential buildings were damaged, with well over 100 windows smashed. Emergency crews were working at the site, the mayor added.

When Zelenskyy spoke to reporters at Stansted before flying out of the UK, he seemed in good spirits, Reuters reports.

Zelenskyy said he did not think the US would stop its assistance to Ukraine because as “leaders of the civilised world” they would not want to help Putin.

But he said he remained prepared for any outcome.

“As regards salvaging the relationship, I think our relationship will continue,” Zelenskyy said, speaking via a translator.

Some more details have emerged about Zelenskyy’s meeting with King Charles at Sandringham.

The president and the king had tea together for nearly an hour.

Zelenskyy arrived on the estate by military helicopter and then was taken by a motorcade through the grounds to Sandringham House, where the king greeted him at the doorstep.

They embraced and shook hands before chatting briefly and posing for photos, PA news agency reports.

The monarch then received Zelenskyy in Sandringham’s Saloon room, where tea was served.

Zelenskyy later posted on X that he was “grateful to His Majesty Charles III for the audience”, alongside pictures of the Ukrainian flag and the union jack.

Some more photos from today’s summit:

Leonid Slutsky, chair of Russia’s lower house’s committee on international affairs, has said the summit would not save Zelenskyy, Reuters reports.

“The London summit will not save the ringleader of the Ukrainian Nazis,” Slutsky wrote on Telegram. “Zero results, a failed attempt to restore the clown’s political reputation after his resounding failure in Washington.”

A Russian politician dismissed the summit in London today for producing “no plan” to settle the war in Ukraine and said Kyiv’s only hope for the future was an improvement in ties between Moscow and Washington, according to Reuters.

Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee of Russia’s upper house of parliament, derided the outcome of the London meeting as “a desperate attempt to pass off as success the failure of a 10-year policy of inciting Ukraine towards Russia by the same Great Britain and, until recently, the United States”.

“Europe has no plan,” Kosachev wrote, “And if Ukraine should count on something, it can only be on progress (if there is any to come) in Russian-American relations.”

He said Zelenskyy and Starmer “cannot fail to understand this”.

Former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, writing on X before the end of the summit, dismissed it as a “coven … to swear allegiance to the Nazi nobodies in Kiev” and a “shameful sight”.

What we know after London summit – summary

Jakub Krupa

Czech Republic looks to increase defence spending to 3% GDP

Zelenskyy was also asked about Lindsey Graham’s comments suggesting he should consider resigning the post of the Ukrainian president after his spat with Trump on Friday.

In response, he said he could offer Graham a Ukrainian citizenship, and only then his suggestions on this would “gain weight”.

But until then, the president of Ukraine will continue to be chosen by Ukrainians only, he said.

In another exchange, he added that he would be willing to exchange his presidency for a Nato membership for Ukraine, which he repeated would be the best security guarantee for the country.