Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Ukraine is on “irreversible path to Nato” in a phone call with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday, Downing Street said.
It comes as the Ukrainian president is set to meet US Vice President JD Vance in Munich amid concern over Trump’s ideas for a negotiated settlement to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Both Zelenskyy and Vance are attending the Munich Security Conference, where the future of Ukraine is expected to be top on the agenda.
Other world leaders, including UK Defence Secretary John Healey and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, are also in attendance.
During the call, Starmer was “unequivocal that there could be no talks about Ukraine, without Ukraine.”
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “Ukraine needed strong security guarantees, further lethal aid and a sovereign future, and it could count on the UK to step up, he added.
“The Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s commitment to Ukraine being on an irreversible path to NATO, as agreed by Allies at the Washington Summit last year.”
Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed to begin peace talks “immediately” during a call, raising concerns that Washington and Moscow could attempt to hammer out a deal by going around the Kyiv government.
Trump also said he does not think that Nato membership for Ukraine is “practical”.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down on the US position Nato membership for Ukraine was unrealistic, suggesting the country should abandon hope of a return to its borders from before Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014.
Trump spoke with Zelenskyy after his phone call with Putin, and when later asked if he viewed Ukraine as an equal member of the peace process, he said: “Hmm, it’s an interesting question. I think they have to make peace.”
However, when asked by reporters on Thursday, Trump said, “Of course they would. I mean, they’re part of it. We would have Ukraine, we have Russia and we’ll have other people involved, too.”
He added: “Somebody said, oh, I should’ve called Zelenskyy first. I don’t think so. I mean, we have to find out whether Russia wants to make a deal. I know that Zelenskyy wants to make a deal, because he told me that. But I now know that Russia wants to make a deal.”
Hours before the meeting between Vance and Zelenskyy was set to take place, a Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead hit the protective confinement shell of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Kyiv region, the Ukrainian president said.
Zelenskyy and the UN atomic agency said radiation levels have not increased.
Vance will lead the delegation to the security conference as part of his first overseas trip since becoming vice president.
Trump’s envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, will also attend the event, having told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the White House was ironing out details of talks with Zelenskyy.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was supposed to join Vance and Zelenskyy but was delayed when his Air Force plane had to return to Washington after developing a mechanical problem on route to Munich.
It is unclear whether he would arrive in time for the meeting with Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy is likely to reiterate his insistence that the US and European allies must “not allow everything to go according to Putin’s plan” and that he “cannot accept” an agreement made without Ukraine’s input when he meets Vance.
On Thursday, seven European countries released a joint statement saying that “Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations.”
UK Defence Secretary John Healey told reporters at Nato headquarters that “there can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine”.
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