Trump meets British PM Starmer at White House, says Putin will 'keep his word' on any Ukraine deal

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will honor any peace deal made with Ukraine, which Moscow invaded three years ago.

The Kremlin leader will “keep his word,” AFP quoted Trump as saying in the White House during talks with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Earlier, Trump greeted Starmer amicably as the UK Prime Minister arrived at the White House in a Black Escalade shortly after midday.

The two smiled, exchanged handshakes and clapped each other on the back before turning to reporters.

Trump said it is a “great honour” to have Starmer in the oval office.

“It’s a special place, and he’s a special man,” said Trump.

When a reporter asked if President Trump could get a peace deal done in Ukraine, Trump replied, “Yes, we can, we will.”

While Starmer didn’t respond to a question as to whether he would get a “backstop”, meaning security guarantees from the US for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, Trump claimed that his planned deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on minerals would effectively be a security “backstop”.

“President Zelenskyy is coming to see me on Friday morning. And we’re going be signing really a very important agreement for both sides because it’s really going to get us into that country, working there,” The Guardian quoted Trump as saying.

He added it was “a backstop, you could say”.

Trump is using the term because a “backstop” is the word that some Europeans have been using to describe the security guarantee they want from US to back up a European-led troop contingent, based in Ukraine, that could protect the country in the event of a peace deal.

But, although a minerals deal would notionally give the US some stake in Ukrainian stability, it is not the military backstop that Starmer and other European leaders want.

During the talks, Trump told Starmer that a ceasefire must be reached in Ukraine before a decision can be taken on deploying foreign peacekeepers.

Trump said in the White House that a “deal” must come first - pushing back against European capitals that want measures for ensuring security to be an integral part of ceasefire talks.

Meanwhile, Trump accepted an invitation for a state visit from King Charles III, stating he will undertake the trip soon.

Starmer made delivering the invitation one of his first tasks.

Upon opening the letter, Trump praised Charles, calling him “a beautiful man and a wonderful man.”

The invitation highlighted Starmer’s strategy to engage the new US president and strengthen the “special relationship”  between the US and Britain.

Starmer is the second European leader to meet Trump this week after French President Emmanuel Macron came to the White House on Monday for a friendly encounter that nonetheless displayed stark differences about Russia’s war with Ukraine and the US push for a quick ceasefire.

With inputs from agencies