Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has announced he will resign on one condition.
The embattled premier has been in charge of Ukraine since 2019, but elections are prohibited by law during wartime under the Ukrainian constitution.
Tonight, Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is “exchangeable” for Ukrainian membership of Nato, and suggested he was ready to sign a minerals deal with the US.
Speaking to reporters at Stansted Airport before he left the UK, the Ukrainian president was asked if he could stand down in the event his country becomes a Nato member.
“I am exchangeable for Nato,” he was reported to have said in Ukrainian, via a translator.
Zelensky added: “I have said that I am exchanging for Nato membership, then it means I have fulfilled my mission. Nato means I have fulfilled my mission.”
He also told reporters Ukraine was “ready to sign it”, when asked about the minerals deal with America that was put on hold after his stormy meeting with Donald Trump.
Sir Keir Starmer said that people in the UK have been affected by the war in Ukraine by consequences such as the increase in energy bills.
Asked whether there is now more of a real prospect of Britain being at war with Russia, Sir Keir Starmer said: “The reason I’ve been forward-leaning on this is because I want to avoid conflict, because I do not want conflict in Ukraine, in Europe (…) I want stability in the United Kingdom.
“The way to ensure that stability is to ensure that we are able to defend a deal in Ukraine, because the one thing our history tells us is that if there is conflict in Europe, it will wash up on our shores.
“Already, in the last three years, what’s happened in Ukraine has had a massive impact on many working people back here in the United Kingdom because their bills have gone up, their energy bills have gone up. There’s been an instability in our economy caused by that conflict, so we are not unaffected.”
The Prime Minister added: “And of course, our own security and defence depends on the defence and security of Europe. So every step I am taking is in order to preserve peace, to avoid conflict, because the safety and security of the British people is my number one duty and responsibility, and I take it very seriously.”
