Volodymyr Zelensky is to meet Andy Burnham at Downing Street, BBC News reported on Tuesday evening, with the prime minister calling on partners to step up their support for Ukraine after President Donald Trump said it was time for Ukraine to have a new leader.
The visit would be the Ukrainian president's second to the United Kingdom since Burnham took office in July, and his first since Trump publicly questioned whether he should remain in post. The meeting is due to take place on Wednesday, according to the BBC and the Press Association, with the UK expected to announce faster deliveries of Lightweight Multirole Missiles; No 10 has not yet published a readout of the talks.
The two leaders agreed to meet during a telephone call on Saturday 10 October, according to the Ukrainian state agency Ukrinform and Ukrainska Pravda. Zelensky said afterwards: "We are preparing the right joint steps and a meeting." He described the call as "very good and timely", according to the Ukrainian outlet Mezha.
Ukrinform reported that the call covered Russian attacks on Ukraine, air defence, tightening sanctions on Russia and possible diplomatic steps.
Trump told reporters at the White House the same weekend that Ukraine should change its leadership, in remarks reported by Al Jazeera. "I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president," he said. He linked his criticism to Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries and their effect on fuel supplies, saying of Zelensky: "He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers with diesel fuel because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world."
Zelensky has rejected the characterisation, saying Russia alone bears responsibility for the war, according to CBS News and the Associated Press.
The two presidents also differ over whether fighting on energy infrastructure has stopped. Trump said on Sunday that Ukraine and Russia had agreed an "energy ceasefire"; Zelensky said Russian attacks were continuing, CBS and AP reported. The Kremlin has not confirmed any such agreement.
The remarks followed Trump's announcement on Friday 9 October of a deal to buy more than four million tonnes of diesel from Russia, reported by CNBC. The terms of that purchase, including price, have not been set out publicly.
The United Kingdom, Germany and Poland publicly restated their support for Zelensky after Trump's intervention, according to Yahoo News, placing the British position within a wider European response rather than a solo one.
Ukraine has been a defining theme of Burnham's first months in office. Zelensky was the first foreign leader to visit the UK under his premiership, on 27 July, when the two met at a naval base in Portsmouth and discussed air defence and ballistic missile interceptors. Burnham's first international visit as prime minister was to Kyiv on 24 August, where he met Zelensky and co-chaired a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, according to a Downing Street press notice.
The leaders met again at the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September. The Downing Street readout of that meeting said Burnham "reflected on his meeting with President Trump earlier in the day and welcomed the passing of the Graham Bill last week".
Burnham is the fifth British prime minister to deal with Zelensky since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Al Jazeera and NBC News reported in July.
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