External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visits UK, discusses Ukraine issue with PM Starmer

Jaishankar, who is currently touring the UK, wrote on X after meeting Starmer: "PM Starmer also shared UK’s perspective on the Ukraine conflict."

He also discussed bilateral and economic cooperation between the UK and India during their meeting.

"Discussed taking forward our bilateral, economic cooperation and enhancing people to people exchanges," Jaishankar wrote.

UK's Financial Help To Ukraine

Meanwhile, British PM Keir Starmer announced an additional £1.6bn ($2bn) of UK export finance to help Ukraine buy more than 5,000 air defence missiles, media reports said.

Keir Starmer announced a loan of  2.2 billion British pounds ($2.8 billion) to support Ukraine, just days after US President Donald Trump was engaged in a fiery spat with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.

Zelenskyy visited the UK just a day after his fiery spat with Donald Trump during their meeting in Washington DC.

The Donald Trump administration has paused military aid to Ukraine, days after President Zelenskyy got involved in a fiery verbal spat with the US President, setting a new challenge for Zelenskyy.

Fiery Friday

According to video footage of the press appearance going viral, Zelenskyy was caught in a verbal spat with Trump and US Vice President JD Vance.

While Vance accused Zelenskyy of being "disrespectful", Trump said he is "gambling with World War Three".

President Zelenskyy responded in equal measure, saying, "We are in our own country, and we have stayed strong all this time. We have even thanked you for it (your support)".

While Zelenskyy left the meeting after the heated exchange, Trump said the Ukraine president can come back to the White House “when he is ready for peace.”

Zelenskyy Ready To Work Under Trump's Leadership

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has proposed a possible peace plan to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine by saying that he is ready to work under the 'strong leadership' of US President Donald Trump.

In a possible attempt to amend bonds with Washington after Trump paused military aide to Ukraine, Zelenskyy wrote on X: "None of us wants an endless war. Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts."

He further said: "We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky — ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure — and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same. Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal."

S Jaishnakar visiting UK, Ireland

S Jaishankar is currently on a two-nation tour to Ireland and the UK.

He will visit the nations from March 4 to March 9.