British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump held a telephone conversation during which, among other things, they discussed peace talks on Ukraine.
According to the British government’s press office, Starmer reiterated his condemnation of Putin’s “barbaric attacks on civilians in Ukraine,” and the leaders discussed ongoing negotiations to achieve a just and lasting peace.
The Prime Minister mentioned the current situation in Gaza and the importance of continued access to humanitarian aid. Starmer reportedly expressed his support for the ongoing work on the US-led peace plan.
According to Downing Street, the two leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to promoting stability and peace in the Middle East. They discussed the ongoing US-Iran talks taking place in Geneva on Iran’s nuclear programme. Both interlocutors agreed that Iran should never be able to develop nuclear weapons.
The U.S. side has not yet provided details of this conversation.
On 17 February, the first day of trilateral talks between Ukraine, the US and Russia took place in Geneva, Switzerland. Special envoy of the US president Steve Witkoff said after the first day of the talks that “significant progress” had been made.
Sources in Washington told Radio Liberty that national security advisers from Britain, France, Germany and Italy were monitoring the talks on 17 February. Umerov said he held a separate meeting with representatives of the US and European partners (France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Switzerland) after the first day of trilateral talks in Geneva.
Russian media quoted a source in the Russian delegation as saying that the talks lasted six hours and were “very tense”.
The Axios publication reported, citing its sources, that during the talks in Geneva on 17 February, the political group “reached an impasse” over the position of the new head of the Russian delegation, Putin aide Vladimir Medinsky, while the military group “continued to make progress”.
This meeting took place against the backdrop of a massive attack by Russian Federation, which attacked Ukraine with 29 missiles and 396 attack UAVs on the night of 17 February.
Today, 18 February, another round of talks has already begun in Geneva.
On 23-24 January, as well as on 4 and 5 February, preliminary talks between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by the United States, on ways to end the war were held in Abu Dhabi (UAE). The sides did not achieve a significant breakthrough on ending the war. As a result of the meeting on 5 February, the delegations reached an agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war, the first in five months.