Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected calls for Ukraine to agree an immediate ceasefire in its war with Russia

[noumoe]

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected calls for Ukraine to agree an immediate ceasefire in its war with Russia, saying it would be “failure for everyone” if a cessation of hostilities were not accompanied by detailed security guarantees.

The defiant Ukrainian president said he saw no need to make amends for an explosive row with Donald Trump at the White House on Friday or come up with a plan to salvage his relationship with the US president, although he restated his gratitude to the American people.

"This relationship will continue because this is more than a relationship in one moment," Zelenskyy, who was speaking after meeting more than a dozen European leaders at a summit in London on Sunday, said in reference to the bust-up that shocked Kyiv's allies.

Trump and his allies have said Kyiv should be willing to agree a ceasefire, a point echoed by Lord Peter Mandelson, the UK's ambassador to Washington, on Sunday.
Zelenskyy said Russia's failure to abide by a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine after invading in 2014 convinced him that it would be a mistake to agree to stop fighting without an enforcement mechanism backed up by military force.

Zelenskyy said he had no direct contact with Trump since Friday's acrimonious meeting, but there had been communication between officials and he was "prepared to continue the dialogue". He said he was ready for his ministers to sign a contentious deal to jointly exploit Ukraine's mineral rights with the US government, which he was supposed to do on Friday at the Oval Office.

Zelenskyy also said it was important to meet the president face to face because there were too many mixed messages coming from the Trump administration.

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