Aug. 9 (UPI) — U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and U.S. Vice President JD Vance met with Ukrainian officials and others to discuss ending the war when Russia attacked its neighbor in February 2022.
Ukraine Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak and Ukraine Defense Secretary Rustem Umerov joined Lammy and Vance on Saturday to discuss matters in Ukraine and its defensive war with Russia.
“The U.K.’s support for Ukraine remains ironclad as we continue working toward a just and lasting peace,” Lammy said Saturday in a post on X.
The meeting occurred at Lammy’s official residence in Kent, England, where Vance is staying with his family through the weekend.
Yermak and Umerov were invited to join Lammy and Vance on short notice and ahead of Friday’s scheduled summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also might join the meeting with Trump and Putin, but he has not been invited as of Saturday evening.
Officials from the European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and NATO also attended Saturday’s meeting at Lammy’s official residence, the BBC reported.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not join the meeting, but he talked with Zelensky by phone before it occurred.
Starmer and Zelensky agreed the meeting at Lammy’s residence is an important prelude to Friday’s scheduled summit in Alaska, Starmer’s office said in a news release.
Zelensky afterward told Ukrainians Putin is the only one standing in the way of ending the war.
“His only card is the ability to kill, and he is trying to sell the cessation of killings at the highest possible price,” Zelensky said during a national address.
He also dismissed the notion of a cease-fire instead of ending the war.
“What is needed is not a pause in the killings but a real, lasting peace,” Zelensky said.
He said Trump supports an immediate cessation of hostilities and said the United States has the “leverage and determination” to make it happen via sanctions against Russia.
Putin “fears sanctions and is doing everything to bail on them,” Zelensky said.
“He wants to exchange a pause in the war, in the killings, for the legalization of the occupation of our land,” Zelensky told Ukrainians.
“We will not allow this second attempt to partition Ukraine.”