Ukraine-Russia war latest: Trump aide tells Zelensky to ‘tone it down’ as US cancels Kyiv press conference

A joint press conference between US Envoy Kellogg and Ukraine’s president Zelensky has been cancelled at the request of the US, the Ukrainian President’s Office announced.

This follows as RBC Ukraine confirmed that the two have now met.

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky has called for pragmatism from Washington after Trump said on Wednesday that Zelenskiy was a “dictator without elections” who should act quickly to secure peace or lose his country.

Zelensky said in a video on Wednesday: “We are standing strong on our own two feet. I am counting on Ukrainian unity, our courage … on the unity of Europe and the pragmatism of America,” Zelenskiy told Ukrainians in his video address late on Wednesday.

“Because America needs success just as much as we do,” he added.

Norwegian defence minister Tore Sandvik spoke alongside John Healey aboard a British vessel in Norway of the two nations’ use of surveillance submarines.

He said: “By using our advanced capabilities to monitor our underwater infrastructure, we are able to send a message to anyone who may intend to cause harm to our critical national infrastructure that we will see you.”

Defence Secretary John Healey said that talks about peacekeeping forces were “jumping ahead of ourselves”.

Formal negotiations were still yet to start, he said despite initial talks between the US and Russia taking place. He repeated that Ukraine needed to be involved in final talks.

He said: “In many ways we’re jumping ahead of ourselves. Our Prime Minister had made the commitment that if we reach a ceasefire, we reach an end to the fighting, security guarantees will be needed and Britain is ready to play a full part in that and we’re leading some of the detailed discussions about what may be needed, but I am certainly not going to give you any detail that is going to make president Putin the wiser.”

He added: “Fundamentally though, the war is still being fought. Russia is still bombing, firing on, launching drones, not just on Ukrainian troops but on Ukrainian cities.

“The Ukrainians are still fighting and our job is to support them in that fight, to keep them as strong as they can be when they come to the negotiating table. Support them on the battlefield, support them at the negotiating table when they choose to do so.”

“Putin wants to divide Nato. He wants to divide Europe,” Defence Secretary John Healey said.

“But three years on from his invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland are part of Nato.

“In the last year, the non-US nations of Nato increased defence spending by 20%, so we are stepping up on European security. We recognised in the discussions that I chaired earlier this week in Nato that we must do more, and we will.

“That isn’t just about how much you spend. It’s about how you spend it.

“And Nato also needs nations like Norway, like the UK, ready to set new standards of how we work together, we plan together, we deter together and if necessary, we will fight together.”

Defence Secretary John Healey has compared Volodymyr Zelensky to Winston Churchill by not holding elections during war time.

Mr Healey was asked following comments by Donald Trump whether it could be trusted that the US still has Europe’s best security interests at heart.

He said: “Europe’s best security interests and America’s best security interests are satisfied by an end to this war in Ukraine and by a strong, unified Nato. That’s an argument that we are having and have discussed with the Americans and will continue to make.”

Mr Healey said that he had seen Ukrainian leader Mr Zelensky’s “commitment to his country”.

He later added: “This was a man who, stuck in his country, led his country, and still does. He was elected. He’s the elected leader of Ukraine, and he’s done what Winston Churchill did in Britain in the Second World War, suspended elections while at war.

“And our job is to stand with the Ukrainians, support the Ukrainians, support them in their fight. And if they choose to talk, support them in the negotiations as well.”