Good morning. After the shocking treatment he received at the White House on Friday, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was on friendlier turf yesterday – but whether a bear hug from Keir Starmer and an audience with King Charles will ultimately prove consequential for the war in Ukraine is still anyone’s guess.
The Ukrainian president was in the UK to attend a European summit, convened by Starmer, to take steps towards new proposals that might be able to find support in Kyiv and Washington alike. And while there were some signs of European unity, the White House and its surrogates were still suggesting that Zelenskyy was guilty of some sort of insult to the United States that might be enough to make a durable peace impossible. Last night, Zelenskyy refused to say whether he believed he had been ambushed – but said that he was ready to talk to Trump again.
An awful lot has happened in the last three days, and the dust is still settling. Today’s newsletter catches you up on the key developments, and what might happen next. Here are the headlines.
Five big stories
Gaza | Israel has cut off humanitarian supplies to Gaza in an effort to pressure Hamas into accepting a change in the ceasefire agreement to allow for the release of hostages without an Israeli troop withdrawal.
UK news | At least 25 undercover police officers formed sexual relationships with members of the public and deceived them about their true identity, the Guardian can disclose. The total equates to nearly a fifth of all the police spies who were sent to infiltrate political movements.
Religion | Pope Francis has thanked well-wishers for their support after missing his Sunday Angelus for the third week in a row as he remains in hospital with pneumonia. The pontiff, 88, was in a stable condition after a breathing crisis on Friday.
Sick pay | More than 1 million of the lowest-paid UK workers are to be guaranteed sick pay worth up to 80% of their weekly salary from the first day of sickness. The government says that 1.3 million of the UK’s lowest earners will be up to £100 a week better off.
Oscars 2025 | Low-budget comedy Anora has triumphed at this year’s Oscars winning five awards, including best picture and best actress, while Adrien Brody took home best actor for his role in The Brutalist. Scroll down for more of the Guardian’s coverage of the ceremony.
In depth: ‘We have to bridge this’
After the hugs, the handshakes and the above family photo, the European summit – also joined by Canada and Turkey – proceeded on quite different terms to the White House’s version of diplomacy on Friday: behind closed doors.
At the end of it, the attending leaders proclaimed that they were united in their support of Ukraine, and ready, in the words of the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to “rearm Europe” and turn Ukraine into “a steel porcupine that is indigestible for potential invaders”. Keir Starmer said that the continent was “at a crossroads in history”.
So what does that mean in practice – and how are Kyiv, the Kremlin and the White House responding to events of the last few days?
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European conference | Big announcements but little detail
A litany of announcements followed the conclusion of the summit, led by Keir Starmer. He said that “a number” of allies had signed up to join the “coalition of the willing” ready to put troops on the ground in Ukraine, but said that he would leave it to those countries to set out their own commitments.
Starmer also announced a £1.6bn deal that would see a loan to Ukraine to buy 5,000 advanced air defence missiles from the UK. Meanwhile the Nato chief, Mark Rutte, said more European countries had said they were ready to increase defence spending, and Germany’s leader-in-waiting Friedrich Merz expressed support for a British “bomb bank” plan that would see up to £20bn in government funding multiplied by up to £200bn private capital for military investment.
It is notable that the most significant steps here lack the crucial public confirmation from those said to have made them. Starmer also claimed he still believes Trump remains open to working with Europe and Ukraine: “I spoke to President Trump last night,” he said. “I would not be taking this step down this road if I didn’t think it was something that would yield a positive outcome.”
Many will remain sceptical that the signals emerging from the White House corroborate those claims. This explainer from Dan Sabbagh sets out the challenges facing Europe in how to move forward on security without US support. And in this piece, Patrick Wintour explains that the next milestone will come at an EU summit this week, which will face the question of whether the bloc will release defence investment outside its general rules limiting debt.
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Starmer’s BBC interview | Insistence that he can still be ‘bridge’ to US
Ahead of the conference, the prime minister appeared on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and attempted to tread an increasingly difficult line: emphasising the UK’s unbreakable support for Ukraine while maintaining that Donald Trump is a reliable partner for peace. Unlike several European leaders, Starmer has refused to criticise Trump over the Oval Office meeting, and he defended that position yesterday. The footage of the meeting made him “uncomfortable”, he acknowledged: “Nobody wants to see that. But the important thing is how to react to that.”
He went on: “There are a number of different routes people could go down. One is to ramp up the rhetoric as to how outraged we all are, or not. The other is to do what I did, which is, roll up my sleeves, pick up the phone, talk to President Trump, talk to President Zelenskyy … my reaction was, ‘we have to bridge this’.”
The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch – who has previously described Labour as “student politicians” for their past criticisms of Trump – now takes a different view. “I watched it and I couldn’t believe what was happening,” she told Kuenssberg. “He was being humiliated.”
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US fallout | Was the Oval Office meeting a set-up?
One question to arise from Friday’s disastrous Oval Office meeting was to what extent the confrontation was a deliberate set-up by the Trump team. In this excellent piece from Washington DC, Hugo Lowell offers some useful clues.
Within the White House, officials were blaming Zelenskyy for the way the meeting went, he reports, saying that Ukrainian officials were warned there should be no attempt to negotiate security guarantees because Trump wanted to come to that issue after the proposed minerals deal was signed. That echoes the claims of the South Carolina senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham, who told the New York Times he advised Zelenskyy: “Don’t get into arguments about security agreements.”
But Hugo also reports claims that JD Vance, whose attack on Zelenskyy tipped the meeting into acrimony, has been working to tilt the administration’s stance against Ukraine. The vice-president was involved in crafting Trump’s description of Zelenskyy as a “dictator” on Truth Social, two sources tell him.
CNN and others report White House sources insisting there was no intention of an ambush – although it is perfectly plausible Vance had that intention without discussing it with anyone else.
Whether the confrontation was deliberately engineered or not, it points to a larger imbalance in how Zelenskyy and Trump are treated. Whereas Zelenskyy is expected to bend to Trump’s demands with little reference to the reality of his country’s plight, Trump is assumed to be captive to his impulses – which means that whatever he does, it’s Zelenskyy’s fault. Downing Street officials have reportedly urged Zelenskyy to “play the game” if he gets another chance.
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Mood in Kyiv | Country rallies round Zelenskyy
If the White House has sought to villainise Zelenskyy’s behaviour in the Oval Office meeting and continue to present him as an unpopular leader whose people want him out of office, reporting from Ukraine tells a very different story. In this piece from the city of Odesa, Luke Harding hears from ordinary Ukrainians dismayed by the White House’s warmth towards the Kremlin, and who insist their president remains the right man for the job.
“This is our affair. Zelenskyy is our president. He got 73% of the vote. We should decide,” says Olena Palash, who works at a children’s clinic destroyed by Russian attacks. She also says: “Everything is back to front. After three years of war, I’m astounded. Trump doesn’t understand who the aggressor is.”
This BBC piece reflects similar views in Kyiv. “It was an emotional conversation, but I understand our president,” says Yulia. “Maybe it wasn’t diplomatic, but it was sincere. It’s about life, we want to live.”
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Mood in Moscow | Attempts to make the most of new dynamic
Trump’s treatment of Ukraine in recent days goes beyond even what Russia might have expected, and the Kremlin appears eager to make the most of its diplomatic advantage. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in comments released yesterday but made before the Oval Office meeting: “The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely coincides with our vision.”
Meanwhile, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, praised Trump for “behaving correctly” in an interview reported by state news agency Tass on Sunday. “Donald Trump is a pragmatist,” he said. “His slogan is common sense. It means, as everyone can see, a shift to a different way of doing things.”
Perhaps most tellingly, he sought to draw a clear line between Europe and the US under Trump’s leadership. The Trump team “say directly that they want to end all wars, they want peace”, Lavrov said. “And who demands a ‘continuation of the banquet’ in the form of a war? Europe.”
What else we’ve been reading
After Anora dominated the Oscars – star Mikey Madison and producer Alex Coco are pictured above – you can swim in an ocean of coverage: how Anora did it, the red carpet pictures, and the best quotes from the ceremony. And Jenna Amatulli reflects on the curious absence of politics from this year’s show: as she notes, not a single person mentioned the name “Donald Trump”. Archie
Best documentary went to No Other Land, which explores the destruction of Masafer Yatta, in the West Bank, by the Israeli military. But after its nomination, the project was not bought by any major distributors. Adrian Horton explores how the industry’s risk aversion is making ethically challenging films harder to fund and release. Nimo
Pontypool isn’t an obvious political frontline, writes John Harris – but Reform UK’s recent success there, with its first councillor in Wales, suggests the failure of Labour’s attempts to imitate Nigel Farage’s party. He makes a persuasive case for why the best strategy is to answer the deeper crises facing places like Pontypool, rather than ape the right’s language on immigration. Archie
I usually find articles about viral posts tedious, but Lindsay Gellman’s New York Magazine essay on Kylie Perkins – an influencer who’s made a name for herself by yelling at mothers to get their act together – stood out. While Perkins’s shtick might seem gimmicky or grating, Gellman argues that her rise reflects a broader cultural shift back toward “bootstraps” self-help. Nimo
Getting a doctor’s appointment can be a challenge, but Sarah Phillips has compiled expert advice on how to make the most of your GP visit once you’re there. Nimo
Sport
Football | Goalkeeper Bernd Leno was his side’s hero (above) as Fulham beat Manchester United in an FA Cup fifth round shootout late on Sunday. In the day’s other fixture, Danny Welbeck’s extra-time winner put Brighton past Newcastle.
Football | A radical plan to scrap relegation from the Women’s Super League as part of a major expansion of the professional game is to be voted on by clubs at the end of the season. Relegation from the 12‑team league would stop from the 2026-27 season as part of a gradual plan to expand both the top flight and the second‑tier Championship to 16 teams, the Guardian can reveal.
Cricket | India beat New Zealand by 44 runs in a low-scoring contest at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday to top Group A in the Champions Trophy. Leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy, with five for 42, helped India bundle out New Zealand for 205 to defend their total of 249-9.
The front pages
“PM calls for ‘coalition of the willing’ to end Ukraine war” says the Guardian and the Times similarly has “Starmer seeks Ukraine ‘coalition of the willing’”. The Telegraph throws it wider with “We are at a crossroads in history, Starmer tells Europe” while the Express’s headline also uses the PM’s words: “Time for talk is over … Europe must ‘step up’”. The Mirror shows Zelenskyy and King Charles shaking hands, with the headline “Hand of friendship”. “Send him victorious” says the Metro of the scene at Sandringham. The Mail calls it “The king’s show of solidarity”, and the Sun says “King-size welcome”. The i puts it all together with “Starmer takes lead on peace for Ukraine as diplomat King boosts Zelensky”. The Financial Times’ version is “UK and France aim for new Ukraine peace deal after White House fracas”.
Today in Focus
The doctors detained in Gaza: ‘He was dragged from the operating theatre’
Doctors in Gaza say they have been targeted for doing their jobs, detained and even tortured. Annie Kelly reports
Cartoon of the day | Edith Pritchett
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Hidden above Basel’s bustling streets lies a quiet environmental triumph: thousands of green rooftops teeming with life. Thanks to policies set decades ago, the city now boasts some of the most biodiverse green roofs in Europe, transforming once-unused spaces into urban sanctuaries.
Biologist Susanne Hablützel is fascinated by the fungi, birds, and wildflowers thriving atop buildings, largely because it is living proof that nature can reclaim even the most unexpected places. Unlike many cities that treat green roofs as decorative, Basel insists on native plants, fostering real ecological richness. These lush rooftops don’t just support biodiversity – they cool the air, absorb rainwater, and reduce noise pollution.
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
