Zelenskyy: UK billions will aid Ukrainian weapons production

Czech President Petr Pavel said in a post on X that it was time "to start considering a broad coalition of willing for just peace in Ukraine."

After comments from US President Donald Trump on US support for NATO and the alliance's members, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said earlier on Saturday, "Europe faces a historic test" and has to be able to take care of itself because "nobody else will do it."

Following his meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Downing Street, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on social media platform X that the pair discussed "concrete steps to strengthen Ukraine's position."

Zelenskyy hailed the loan agreement worth 2.26 billion pounds (€2.74 billion or $2.84 billion) signed by his country and the UK.

"This loan will enhance Ukraine's defense capabilities and will be repaid using revenues from frozen Russian assets," he said.

"This is true justice," Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X. "The one who started the war must be the one to pay."

The loan is part of the Group of Seven's (G7) Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans to Ukraine scheme. In October 2024, G7 countries reached a consensus to provide Ukraine with some $50 billion in loans.

In an interview with French newspaper Tribune Dimanche on Sunday, President Emmanuel Macron called for a return to calm and respect following the Oval Office clash between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his US counterpart Donald Trump.

Macron described Friday's televised showdown as "a press conference gone wrong."

He stressed that "beyond the anger, everyone needs to return to calm, respect, and recognition, so that we can move forward concretely because what is at stake is too important."

"The manifest destiny of the Americans is to be on the side of the Ukrainians, I have no doubt about that," Macron added.

The French president spoke to several French media outlets on the eve of Sunday's summit in London where European leaders will discuss the Ukraine war.

In his interview with Le Parisien newspaper, Macron proposed "a strategic dialogue" with European countries that do not have nuclear weapons, adding that the move would "make France stronger."

His country and Britain are Europe's only two nuclear-armed powers.

"We have a shield, they don't. And they can no longer depend on the American nuclear deterrent," Macron said.

Russian opposition leader Yulia Navalnaya on Saturday led a march in central Berlin to demand an end to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Navalnaya demonstrated alongside opposition figures Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin, one day after the public row between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump at the White House.

After the march, Navalnaya told her supporters on social media platform X that "we must not give up, we must not surrender". 

"Alexei always said that we must not lose heart — and these are important words, especially now, when it seems that there is very little hope," she said. 

Her husband Alexei Navalny, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's biggest opponents, died in an Arctic prison colony last year.

The United Kingdom and Ukraine on Saturday signed a 2.26-billion-pound (€2.74 billion or $2.84 billion) loan agreement to bolster Kyiv's defense capabilities.

The two countries' finance ministers, Rachel Reeves and Serhiy Marchenko, signed the loan at a virtual ceremony. The loan will be paid back with the profits of immobilized sovereign Russian assets.

Marchenko called it "another significant step in strengthening Ukraine's defense capabilities in a post on social media.

The loan is part of the Group of Seven's (G7) Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loans to Ukraine scheme. In October 2024, G7 countries reached a consensus to provide Ukraine with some $50 billion in loans.

The announcement followed the meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Downing Street ahead of the summit with other European leaders on Sunday.

The UK is one of Ukraine's biggest military backers. It has pledged 12.8 billion pounds in military and civilian aid since Russia's full-scale invasion three years ago. It has also trained more than 50,000 Ukrainian troops on British soil.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his US counterpart Donald Trump after their clash in the Oval Office, the Elysee said.

The French presidency said Macron also spoke to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, European Council President Antonio Costa and NATO chief Mark Rutte.

The talks were part of preparations for a summit of European leaders on Sunday as well as a special European Council meeting on March 6, according to the Elysee.

Earlier this week, Macron was the first European leader to meet Trump after he returned to the White House for the second term.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has left Downing Street after meeting with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

The pair was expected to discuss the public quarrel between Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump at the Oval Office on Friday and explored security guarantees to end the war in Ukraine and deter any future Russian aggression.

The US continued support for Ukraine is now in doubt after Trump gave Zelenskyy an ultimatum: "You're either going to make a deal or we're out, and if we're out, you'll fight it out."

Ahead of their private talk, Starmer doubled down on the UK's support to Ukraine. He told Zelenskyy inside Number 10 "a lasting peace for Ukraine based on sovereignty and security for Ukraine — so important for Ukraine, so important for Europe and so important for the United Kingdom."

The Ukrainian president was met with a crowd of cheering supporters outside Downing Street with Starmer saying he had "full backing across the United Kingdom."

Zelenskyy thanked Starmer for his country's "big support from the very beginning of this war" and highlighted the 100-year partnership agreement that Ukraine and the UK signed in January.

The Ukrainian leader's visit to Downing Street follows an explosive televised Oval Office showdown that cut short Zelenskyy's trip to the White House.

On Sunday, apart from meeting Britain's King Charles, Zelenskyy will also attend a summit organized by Starmer.

The summit will include leaders from France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, Turkey, Finland, Sweden, Czechia and Romania, as well as the NATO secretary-general and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council.

Ukraine is in shock after the angry exchange between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump in the White House.

Ukrainian opposition leader Kira Rudik discusses Ukraine's situation after Zelenskyy's Oval Office meeting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived at Downing Street to meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

"We stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes," Starmer said shortly after the president's arrival, adding that Zelenskyy is "very welcome here."

Zelenskyy thanked Starmer for his country's support and expressed his gratitude for an invitation to meet with King Charles on Sunday.

The two did not mention US President Donald Trump. 

Before he met with Starmer, the Ukrainian leader was in Washington on Friday to sign an expected deal on Kyiv's rare minerals and mark a new chapter in the Ukraine-US relationship.

Instead, the meeting blew up in front of the cameras in the Oval Office where Trump berated Zelenskyy for not being "ready" for peace with Russia.

UK media has reported that King Charles will welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Sandringham estate on Sunday.

Following the televised White House showdown with US President Donald Trump, Zelenskyy has landed in London to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Downing Street before a summit with European leaders on Sunday.

Earlier this week, Trump accepted an invitation delivered by Starmer for an "unprecedented" second state visit to meet King Charles in Scotland.

Tyson Barker, a foreign policy analyst who recently served in the Biden-Harris administration working on Ukraine, told DW that the Oval Office clash was "in some ways a produced moment."

He called the intervention by US Vice President JD Vance "highly irregular," adding that "there needs to be considerations whether or not this was premeditated."

Barker told DW that Vance is playing the "bad cop" in the Trump administration, hinting at the US Vice President's speech lambasting European leaders at the Munich Security Conference a few weeks ago.

According to Barker, it's hard to imagine that Vance made such "condescending" comments to Zelenskyy "without the explicit predetermined permission of his boss."

During the heated debate at the White House on Friday, Vance asked Zelenskyy: "Have you ever said 'thank you' once?" He also lectured the Ukrainian leader: "It's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media."

Ukraine's former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said "there's only one person who completely benefitted" from the heated exchange between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday.

And "it's Putin, war criminal Putin," he told DW, adding that, "neither Ukraine nor the Trump administration benefit from this."

He called on Ukrainians, along with their European allies, to "urgently step up" in order to "have Americans back on track."

Yatsenyuk warned autocracies worldwide will be emboldened if the US abandons Ukraine. "We need to do our best to have Americans back in the game to help them to lead the free world… Otherwise, dictators and autocrats like Putin, China, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea and the rest of the gang, they will depose the United States from this leadership position."

He also stressed that Americans need to realize that Russia is an "anti-American and anti-free world country," pointing to several US attempts in recent decades to reset relations with Moscow.

When asked if he was hopeful that a peace deal could be signed soon, Yatsenyuk said: "I am hopeful that Ukraine will win this war and I am hopeful that the free world can handle this and the peace will be achieved."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy must "find a way" to restore his relationship with US counterpart Donald Trump, NATO chief Mark Rutte told the BBC on Saturday, a day after Zelenskyy and Trump clashed at the White House.

Rutte said that he had told Zelenskyy: "You have to find a way, dear Volodymyr, to restore your relationship with Donald Trump and the American administration."

The NATO chief also said that the US, Ukraine and Europe need to "stick together" in order to secure a "durable peace" in Ukraine.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier slammed US President Donald Trump following Friday's dramatic events at the White House involving Trump, US Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"Diplomacy fails when negotiating partners are humiliated in front of the world," Steinmeier told the German news agency DPA on Saturday during a flight to Uruguay.

"The scene at the White House yesterday took my breath away. I would never have believed that we would ever have to defend Ukraine from the United States," Steinmeier said.

He also stressed that Europeans "must prevent Ukraine from having to accept subjugation."

Germany's outgoing Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a "new era of infamy has begun" and that European countries must massively increase their defense spending to face the changing strategic landscape.

She made the comments a day after a heated discussion at the White House between Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and US President Donald Trump in front of the world media.

Baerbock called for Germany to work closely with Poland, France and others in Europe to bolster Ukraine's defense.

She also called on Germany to release an additional €3 billion ($3.1 billion) in aid for Ukraine.

Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck, also from Baerbock's Green Party, made a similar appeal, calling for the speedy release of the financial aid.  

"In order to secure the necessary support for Ukraine, we should now do what we can in the short term," he said.