Image source, SKY POOL

We're hearing now from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who have just greeted one another at Downing Street ahead of a meeting.

Starmer starts by saying it's "fantastic" to have Meloni in the UK.

He references his recent trip to Rome - saying it was an opportunity to celebrate the relationship between the two countries.

"I'm very much looking forward to having the opportunity today to talk to you about the important issues that face us - I think we approach them with a very similar mindset."

Meloni in a delicate position as she meets Starmerpublished at 11:31 Greenwich Mean Time 2 March

11:31 GMT 2 March

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

Keir Starmer and Italy's PM Giorgia Meloni are now meeting in Downing Street for a bilateral summit before the start of the wider summit with other European leaders later today.

Meloni is in a delicate position.

She is close to the Trump administration, and the US president has repeatedly expressed his appreciation for her.

Only last week, she sent a video message to the Trump-aligned conservative CPAC conference. And, earlier this week, she did not join other EU leaders in tweeting her support for Zelensky after his spat with Trump.

But since coming to power in 2022, Meloni has been a vocal and staunch supporter of Ukraine's struggle against Russia.

This has often set her apart from other European leaders she is usually ideologically aligned with, like Hungary's Viktor Orban, who has called on the EU to follow the US lead and resume talks with Moscow.

So the Italian PM might be trying to forge a third way for herself - perhaps that of the bridge between the US and the EU side backing Ukraine.

We are now seeing Italy's prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, arriving at 10 Downing Street.

Meloni greets Prime Minister Keir Starmer ahead of the summit of European leaders.

They shake hands and enter No. 10.

Image source, BBC POOL

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

We can now bring you the latest remarks from the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, ahead of a summit in central London today.

"On my way to London to highlight Europe’s ongoing support to Ukraine that can lead to just and lasting peace in Ukraine," she says in a post on X.

"The path to peace is strength. Weakness breeds more war. We will support Ukraine, while undertaking a surge in European defence," the EU president adds.

As a reminder: Leaders from Europe and Canada are gathering in London later today to discuss the war in Ukraine, days after Zelensky and Trump clashed in the White House

An update now on the latest from the war in Ukraine.

Russian attacks across Ukraine have killed at least two civilians and injured at least 20 over the last 24 hours, according to reports from regional authorities.

Ukraine's air defence shot down 63 of 79 drones last night, the military says in a statement on Telegram.

In Donetsk, two people were killed and seven injured in the attacks, according to the regional governor Vadym Filashkin.

Ten people, including a child, were injured in strikes against Kherson, says the regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin.

Injuries were also recorded in the Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi and Zaporizhzhia regions.

In a Ukrainian attack on a Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine yesterday, three people were killed and five more injured, the governor Vladimir Saldo said.

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

Image source, Reuters

Interviews by Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov broadcast this weekend give a glimpse into how pleased Moscow is with this week's developments.

Lavrov has praised Donald Trump's pragmatic aim to end the war in Ukraine, in contrast with the "pride" that he has said plagued the previous Biden administration.

The Kremlin foreign minister has also scolded Europe for seeking to continue the conflict and says that any discussion of peacekeepers in Ukraine was "arrogant".

And in an interview apparently recorded before Zelensky's White House visit, Peskov has said the new US administration's foreign policy configurations coincided with the Russian vision "to a large extent".

He has singled out the example of the US siding with Russia in UN resolutions on Ukraine, which, Peskov says, had previously been “impossible to imagine”.

Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

We can now bring you the latest comments from Poland's Donald Tusk, who says he plans to urge European leaders to reinforce Nato's eastern flank at a summit in London this afternoon.

“It will be a real test of the intentions and capabilities of each European state to have more European troops present in Finland, the Baltic states and Poland on the border with Russia and Belarus,” the Polish prime minister says before flying to London.

Tusk also says he supports Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s proposal to convene a summit of European leaders and the United States.

Image source, Reuters

Today's summit marks the end of a week of international talks that started cordially before erupting with a furious row at the White House.

It all began on Monday, when French President Emmanuel Macron visited Donald Trump in Washington, praising, flattering and gently cajoling the US president as they took questions in the Oval Office. Macron said afterwards that a truce between Ukraine and Russia could be agreed in the coming weeks.

Two days later, Keir Starmer arrived at the White House for his own talks with the American leader, with the UK prime minister pulling out a letter from King Charles III inviting Trump to a second state visit.

But then, on Friday, Trump was involved in an angry exchange with Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to the White House - as he told the Ukrainian leader to make a deal with Russia "or we are out".

Zelensky received a warmer reception when he arrived in London for talks with Starmer on Saturday - and European leaders today are hoping to forge a common position on ending the war in Ukraine.

As we've been reporting, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer gave an interview to the BBC this morning ahead of welcoming European leaders to a key summit in London.

Here are some of the main things he said:

• He felt "uncomfortable" watching the row between Zelensky and Trump at the White House but decided to "roll up [his] sleeves" and call them both rather than "ramp up the rhetoric"
• A UK-France-Ukraine plan to end the war could involve "possibly one or two others" and is a "step in the right direction"
• Trump wants "lasting peace" and Starmer trusts both the US president and Zelensky
• He does not trust Russian President Vladimir Putin and that's why he wants a "security guarantee" in any peace deal
• There are three components needed for a lasting peace in Ukraine - one is a "strong Ukraine" to fight on if necessary and to be in a strong position to negotiate; the second is a European element with security guarantees; and the third is a US backstop
• Zelensky is "worried" about a ceasefire deal with Russia falling apart and is "rightly concerned" that any agreement "has to hold"
• He does not believe the Ukrainian president - a "man whose country has been at war for three years" - did anything wrong at the White House
• He would not be drawn into a debate over revoking the offer of a second state visit for Trump to the UK

In his interview with the BBC, Sir Keir Starmer listed three things he believes are needed for a lasting peace in Ukraine:

• A "strong Ukraine" to fight on if necessary and to be in a strong position to negotiate
• A European element with security guarantees
• A US backstop.

"All three" need to be in place to guarantee peace, Starmer said.

"You can't have a deal that falls apart and that's what Zelensky is worried about," he said, before adding that Zelensky was "rightly concerned" a proposed deal "had to hold".

Asked about what the "line" on the ground between Russia and Ukraine would be, Starmer declined to answer, saying only: "That's obviously a subject for discussion."

In an interview to the BBC this morning, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his conversations with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron have led to an agreement that the UK - along with France and "possibly one or two others" - will work with Ukraine on a "plan to stop the fighting and then we'll discuss that plan with the United States".

"I think we've got a step in the right direction", Starmer told Laura Kuenssberg.

Global leaders are set to descend on central London today for a crucial summit on the war in Ukraine, after the extraordinary scenes in the White House earlier this week.

The UK's Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, is set to welcome Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Downing Street this morning.

The leaders will then be joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Leaders of Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain, FInland, Sweden, Czechia and Romania will also be in attendance, as well as Turkey's foreign minister.

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen and Council President Antonio Costa have also been invited.

A delicate dance of words and actionpublished at 08:26 Greenwich Mean Time 2 March

08:26 GMT 2 March

Lyse Doucet
Chief international correspondent

In diplomacy, optics matter. Especially now.

Much is being made of Keir Starmer’s very public embrace last night of President Zelensky - walking along the pavement to greet him, walking him back to his vehicle.

Words matter too. When they sat in a fireplace setting similar to the Oval Office, the scene of Friday’s extraordinary row, President Zelensky seemed visibly moved by such staunch support.

But since Russia’s full-scale invasion he has always balanced expressions of gratitude with firm calls for more financial and military backing in a war Kyiv also fights for Europe’s security.

“Words can’t destroy Russian tanks,” Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko told BBC’s Weekend programme this morning. He recalled the EU’s promise in 2023 to provide “a million bullets” within a year, but delivered only half.

Last night’s signing of a £2.26bn UK loan to Ukraine to help bolster its military capability adds substance to the symbolism. Many European governments are also stepping up.

But behind the scenes, the telephone calls to President Trump by Starmer and others, underlines their urgency of persuading him to continue providing some level of vital US assistance.

Image source, PA Media

We can now bring you some comments from the leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, who has written in The Telegraph this morning to call for an increase to defence spending.

The Conservative leader says the prime minister was "right" to commit 2.5% of national income by 2027 to defence spending, but argues: "that step cannot be the final one."

Badenoch says the UK must "lead by example" and "commit to raising defence spending to 3% of GDP by the end of this Parliament" - a deicison, she says, that will equip the UK "with our own resources".

"Failing to set out a plan to reach 3% of GDP on defence is tantamount to planning to fail. The road to 3%will require tough choices. But we are living in unprecedentedly tough times. If we want peace, we must prepare for war," she says.

The leader also calls on the UK's Nato allies to "rapidly increase" their defence spending.

• ICYMI: On Saturday, Zelensky and Starmer signed a £2.26bn loan for Ukrainian military supplies, that will be repaid using profits from frozen Russian assets. This comes after the PM announced defence spending would increase to 2.5% of national income by 2027

Many of the national papers this morning are showcasing messages of support for Ukraine and President Zelensky following his arrival in the UK yesterday.

Images of the Starmer and Zelensky embracing as the prime minister welcomes him to Downing Street have been widely platformed.

The Mail front page reads: "Now stop the state visit for 'bully' Trump" while the Sunday Mirror opts for a more subdued "We've got your back".

You can take a look at some of the others in our article.

Image source, Reuters

The fiery exchange between Zelensky and Trump on Friday has split opinion among political figures in the US - with most Republicans backing the US president.

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who was in the Oval Office during the meeting, told Breitbart News on Saturday that Zelensky was too focused on fact-checking and compared the Ukrainian leader to an "ex-girlfriend".

Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, called for Ukraine's war-time leader to "change his position or resign" when speaking to reporters outside the White House.

Senator Bill Hagerty said the US "will no longer be taken for granted" while Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene defended questions about his attire: "Why won't Zelensky wear a suit when he comes to meet with our president...demanding more money from the American people?, external"

Other Republicans took a different position. New York Representative Mike Lawler said the meeting was a "missed opportunity" while moderate Nebraska Representative Don Bacon said it was "a bad day for America's foreign policy".

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican, posted on X on Saturday: "I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin."

Democrats rallied around Zelensky with Senator Chris Coons saying America owes him "our thanks for leading a nation fighting on the front lines of democracy - not the public berating he received at the White House".

California senator, Adam Schiff, expressed similar sentiments describing Ukraine's leader as a "hero" and referring to Trump as a "coward".

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

It's set to be a busy day for the prime minister - and a busy day for us here in the London newsroom. Here are some of the main moments we'll be keeping an eye out for.

At 09:00 GMT - Sunday with Laura Kuessberg begins with Prime Minister Keir Starmer as the main political guest. Leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch and Lib Dems leader Ed Davey will also be on the programme - we'll be bringing you some lines from that here but also following it more closely in a separate page.

Later in the day, the prime minister will be meeting with Zelensky and other European leaders at a summit to discuss ongoing efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Top of the agenda for the summit will be increasing Europe's defence capabilities as the US steps back, as well as seeking security guarantees for Ukraine from the White House as part of any peace deal.

Also in Zelensky's diary is a meeting with King Charles III. It is understood this is something that had been requested by the Ukrainian president and agreed to by the UK government.

As always, we're poised on the desk to bring you the latest developments, key reaction and further analysis with some help from our correspondents. Stick with us for what's expected to be a busy day.

Upon arrival in the UK yesterday, President Zelenksy met with Keir Starmer at Downing Street.

During the meeting, the pair signed a £2.26bn loan for Ukrainian military supplies, that will be repaid using profits from frozen Russian assets.

The loan had first been announced in October with Defence Secretary John Healey outlining at the time that the money will help Ukraine bolster its frontline military equipment.

Healey described it as "turning the proceeds of Putin’s own corrupt regime against him, by putting it into the hands of Ukraine".

Following yesterday's meeting, Zelensky said the funds will be used to produce weapons in Ukraine, declaring: "This is true justice - the one who started the war must be the one to pay."