Foreign Secretary David Lammy: Russians have no ‘appetite’ for peace in Ukraine

Foreign ministers from G20 nations, including Russia’s Sergei Lavrov, gathered in Johannesburg for their annual meeting, days after officials from Washington and Moscow began talks on ending the war in Ukraine.

But after a speech from Mr Lavrov, David Lammy told reporters he did not believe Russia was serious about wanting peace.

He said: “At the moment, we’ve had talks effectively about talks.

“We’ve not got anywhere near a negotiated settlement, and I have to say when I listened to what the Russians and what Lavrov has just said in the chamber this afternoon, I don’t see an appetite to really get to that peace.”

In his own speech, which was boycotted by Mr Lavrov, Mr Lammy accused his Russian counterpart of advancing “tired fabrications” and “the logic of imperialism dressed up as a realpolitik”.

He added: “If (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is serious about a lasting peace, it means finding a way forward which respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and the UN Charter, which provides credible security guarantees, and which rejects tsarist imperialism, and Britain is ready to listen.”

Russian officials have repeatedly said that Moscow will not agree to return territory to Ukraine or allow Nato or European troops to be deployed to the country as peacekeepers.

The G20 meeting comes at a fraught time in global politics, as the US and Russia begin talks about Ukraine’s future, but without any Ukrainian representation.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s accusation that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is a “dictator” suggests a rift between the two men that some have warned could “embolden” Mr Putin.

UK defence secretary John Healey compared Mr Zelensky to Winston Churchill by not holding elections during war time, following Mr Trump’s comments.

Speaking in Norway, Mr Healey praised Mr Zelensky’s “commitment to his country”. But he rowed back on the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s suggestion of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, saying the international community were “jumping ahead of ourselves” when there was not yet a deal.

Mr Healey added his voice to those in support of Mr Zelensky, after Sir Keir gave the Ukrainian leader his backing in a phone call on Wednesday night.

The defence secretary was asked on Thursday following the comments by Mr Trump whether it could be trusted the US still had Europe’s best security interests at heart.

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

Speaking in Miami on Wednesday, Mr Trump accused Mr Zelensky of talking “the United States of America into spending $350 billion (£278bn) to go into a war that basically couldn’t be won, that never had to start and never would have started if I was president”.

Mr Trump added: “He refuses to have elections. The only thing he was really good at was playing Joe Biden like a fiddle. A dictator without elections, Zelensky better move fast. He’s not going to have a country left.”

The White House continued to press Kyiv on Thursday, with senior diplomats urging Ukraine to rein in criticism and quickly sign a minerals deal pushed by Mr Trump.

"They need to tone it down and take a hard look and sign that deal," Mike Waltz, the White House national security adviser, said in an interview with Fox News.

Reform UK leader and Trump supporter Nigel Farage separately broke his silence on the crisis, saying Mr Zelensky was “not a dictator”, but it was “only right and proper that Ukrainians have a timeline for elections”.

The criticisms of Mr Zelensky from the US come with Europe scrambling to respond to the turmoil over Ukraine’s future and what it could mean for wider continental security, after Washington and Moscow started talks earlier this week to broker peace in Ukraine.

Mr Healey pledged “Britain will support Ukraine on the “battlefield and the negotiating table”, but that talks about peacekeeping forces were “jumping ahead of ourselves”. Formal negotiations were still yet to start, he said, despite the initial talks between the US and Russia taking place.

Speaking at the same press conference in Norway, the defence secretary said: “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.”

In a further blow to Mr Zelensky, a high-profile press conference was cancelled, which was to include comments to the media by Mr Zelensky and retired US Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg. It was changed at the last minute on Thursday so the two did not deliver statements or field questions from journalists.

The change was requested by the US side, Ukrainian presidential spokesman Serhii Nikiforov said.

Lt Gen Kellogg’s trip to Kyiv coincided with recent feuding between Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky that has bruised their personal relations and cast further doubt on the future of US support for Ukraine’s war effort.

Mr Nikiforov gave no other reason other than the cancellation was in accordance with US wishes. The US delegation made no immediate comment.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about why the news conference was called off.

Sir Keir is due to make a trip to Washington DC next week for talks with Mr Trump, including on Ukraine and European security.

The meeting will be Sir Keir’s first with Mr Trump since his inauguration as US president in January. The crunch talks will see Britain attempt to balance its support for Ukraine with the need to keep the White House onside.