Trump-Putin summit live: Starmer warns Ukraine’s borders ‘must not be changed by force’ as he meets Zelensky

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:

Keir Starmer and President Zelensky embraced outside No 10 as the Ukrainian leader arrived for talks in Downing Street on the eve of Donald Trump’s summit with Vladimir Putin.

The two men smiled as they greeted each other but in the main their facial expressions underlined the seriousness of the situation; amid fears Ukraine could be excluded from peace talks.

The meeting is a public show of support from the prime minister as Europe rallies behind the Ukrainians.

But as they met both men were tight-lipped when asked about whether or not they trust the US president to deliver a fair peace deal.

It comes after Mr Trump suggested land would have to be swapped to bring the war to an end.

Russian forces attacked Ukraine with 47 drones and missiles overnight into Thursday, the Ukrainian air force said, one day ahead of a crunch meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Two anti-aircraft missiles and 45 Shahed-type drones were fired in the attack which largely targeted the Donetsk, Chernihiv and Sumy regions.

A total of 21 drones were recorded hitting 12 locations, Ukraine’s air force said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived at Downing Street for his meeting with Keir Starmer.

The Ukrainian prime minister was greeted at the doorstep with a warm hug from his British counterpart, with the pair exchanging short words before heading inside.

It is currently unclear whether Downing Street will share details about the meeting.

Volodymyr Zelensky is due to arrive at Number 10 Downing Street imminently.

A red carpet has been rolled out for the Ukrainian president outside Number 10, our Whitehall correspondent Kate Devlin reports.

It is a last push for the leaders to display unity in Europe, one day after a “very positive” call with Donald Trump – and one day before his crucial meeting with Vladimir Putin.

Thirteen people were injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on a residential building in Russia’s southern city of Rostov-on-Don on Thursday, acting regional governor Yuri Slyusar said.

No further details are currently available on the strike – we’ll bring you the latest as it comes/

Vladimir Putin has “only one card” left to play – to prolong the killing in Ukraine, according to a senior source in Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidential office as Europe held top-level talks ahead of the Alaska summit this week.

Zelensky has not been invited to Friday’s meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. And there are deep concerns that the US president will emerge from the encounter taking an even harder line on Ukraine.

Europe’s leaders, including Keir Starmer, have been corralling US officials and White House insiders, and met virtually with the Oval Office to try to persuade Trump to use the leverage he has over Putin to get him to agree to a ceasefire.

Our world affairs editor Sam Kiley writes:

The Independent’s Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:

The PM’s meeting with the Ukrainian leader this morning will be highly symbolic.

After days of diplomatic wrangling, the two men are putting on a show – for the US president.

The message is clear – the UK, like mush of Europe, is standing strong with Zelensky.

On the eve of Trump’s potentially historic summit with Putin in Alaska, there is some cautious optimism that the US is coming more onside to Europe’s arguments, including that nothing is imposed on Ukraine and that the country has to be involved in its own destiny.

This follows a call with European leaders, including the PM, on Thursday.

The fear, as always, however, is how unpredictable the US President can be.

WhatsApp said Russia was trying to block its services because the social media messaging app owned by Meta Platforms offered people’s right to secure communication, and vowed to continue trying to make encrypted services available in Russia.

Russia has started restricting some Telegram and WhatsApp calls, accusing the foreign-owned platforms of failing to share information with law enforcement in fraud and terrorism cases.

“WhatsApp is private, end-to-end encrypted, and defies government attempts to violate people’s right to secure communication, which is why Russia is trying to block it from over 100 million Russian people,” WhatsApp said in a statement.

“We will keep doing all we can to make end-to-end encrypted communication available to people everywhere, including in Russia.”