Ukraine war live: Zelenskyy leaves Downing Street after peace plan talks as Merz says Germany ‘sceptical’ about some US proposals | Ukraine

Europe’s leaders can no longer deny that the relationship with US has changed — analysis

Jon Henley

The president of the European Council of national leaders, António Costa, has warned Donald Trump’s administration against interfering in Europe’s affairs, as analysts said the US national security strategy represented a seismic shift in transatlantic relations.

Released on Friday, the document claims Europe faces “civilisational erasure” because of migration and warns that a censorious EU “undermines political liberty and sovereignty”. It says the US will “cultivate resistance” in the bloc to “correct its current trajectory”.

Analysts said the document confirmed not just the Trump administration’s hostility to Europe but its ambition to weaken it, as the document codified a US strategy first outlined by JD Vance at this year’s Munich Security Conference in a speech that accused EU leaders of suppressing free speech, failing to halt illegal migration and running from voters’ true beliefs.

“It transposes that doctrine into an officially backed state line,” said Nicolai von Ondarza, head of European research at the German Institute for International and European Affairs. “It really represents a fundamental shift in transatlantic relations.”

Von Ondarza said that in particular, “open US backing for regime change” in Europe meant that it was “really no longer possible for EU and national European leaders to deny that US strategy towards its European allies has radically changed”.

Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia, Eurasia programme at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said political meddling in Europe to back far-right nationalists was now “a core part of America’s national strategy”.

Bergmann added: “This isn’t just a speech from a novice vice-president weeks into a new term. It is US policy, and they will try to implement it.” Moreover, he said, it could work: “In a fragmented political landscape, a 1-2% shift can change elections.”

EU leaders “will have to confront the fact that the Trump administration is coming for them politically”, Bergmann said. “Do they just accept that Trump is funding their political downfall? Or does this begin to cause an incredible amount of friction?”

And Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has now also left Downing Street, the last of the three leaders visiting Starmer today.

As usual, he gets a big hug from Starmer before departing.

Crete airport sees disruptions amid growing farmer protests over subsidy payments

Helena Smith

in Athens

Meanwhile, mounting anger in Greece over delayed payments of EU farming subsidies intensified today when protesting farmers vandalised a police vehicle as they tried to blockade Crete’s international airport.

In a day seen as a turning point for demonstrations now in their second week, farmers backed by livestock breeders attempted to storm the airport as nationwide protests spread. Media reports suggested that air traffic was disrupted after some protestors made it as far as the runway.

Fury over delayed payments and soaring production costs have already seen farmers blockade highways and border crossings nationwide.

On Monday protest action was stepped up as ever more tractors were driven to roadblocks at key points along motorways north and south of the country.

Farmers have vowed to blockade ports next with a Panhellenic Blockades Committee expected to announce further moves.

Calling on the protesters to back down, the embattled prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasised on Monday that a solution “lay in dialogue” and that the “blind protests” risked turning public opinion against farmers even if some of their complaints were justified. The door to the agriculture ministry and his own office was “always open,” he said.

“It would be good for this dialogue to happen when the roads are open, not closed … we are always open to dialogue in good faith,” he said when asked about the escalating protests at a health conference.

“I understand that there have been some delays in payments but by the end of December significant payments [will be made].”

Farmers say they have fallen victim to more than 600 million euro in EU subsidies and other payments being frozen in the wake of fraudulent agricultural aid claims being exposed earlier this year.

Five senior government officials, including Makis Voridis, the former agriculture minister, resigned after the revelations came to light and as an inquiry into the corruption scandal got under way, heaping further embarrassment on the government.

France’s Macron and Germany’s Merz have now left Downing Street, with the four leaders showing up together outside the No10 door for that collective photo I spoke about earlier (14:05).

They both have government business to attend back home, with Macron particularly needing to move quickly as he is set to welcome Croatia’s prime minister Andrej Plenković in Paris at 5pm local.

Merz is expected on ARD Arena TV show to sum up his year a bit later in the evening.

Zelenskyy and Starmer are back inside for bilateral talks now.

As Keir Starmer hosts Volodymyr Zelenskyy in London, the Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey discuss what the ‘coalition of the willing’ can achieve.

Sombre tone of leaders’s comments reveals the scale of challenge they face — snap analysis

Jakub Krupa

The sombre tone of the opening remarks was highly telling: it’s clear that this was not merely another photo opportunity designed to merely convey solidarity with Zelenskyy, but they face urgent – increasingly so – issues that need to be resolved soon.

All four of them have made it very clear that they find themselves in a tricky position, but desperately need to keep the Americans on side – as difficult as it is. Not surprisingly, it was Zelenskyy who stressed this point the most.

But two other bits are also worth noting.

Macron’s swipe at the US administration that Europe has “a lot of cards in our hands” – a clear reference to Trump’s explosive comments to Zelenskyy in February – is also notable, and appears to show his frustration and desire – or demand – to be seen by the US and Russia as equal partners. It will be interesting if they can come up with something that would make Washington and Moscow stand up and take notice.

Also, Germany’s Merz was the only leader to explicitly flag his “scepticism” of some of the US proposals.

It may not sound entirely surprising given the current context and the evolution of his views on this in the past few months, but remember that this is a politician who for decades had been one of the most ardent advocates of the transatlantic relationship. He is now increasingly having his doubts about this Trump administration, it seems.

Let me bring you the opening comments from the four leaders as they begin their talks at 10 Downing Street.

Opening, UK’s Starmer stresses the need for a just and lasting peace settlement for Ukraine.

Responding, Zelenskyy thanked Starmer for organising the meeting. He says it’s an important moment to discuss all “sensitive” issues.

He talks about the importance of unity between Europe, Ukraine, and the US. Zelenskyy says there are things “we can’t manage without Americans, … we can’t manage without Europe.”

Macron says “we all support Ukraine and peace,” as he says “we have a lot of cards in our hands”, as he talks about options for Europe and Russia’s increasingly suffering economy.

He talks the need to find a way to bring Europe and the US closer to agree the path forward.

Germany’s Merz says “these could be decisive” days “for all of us” on Ukraine.

He mentions the US-led peace talks, and says “we are and remain strongly behind Ukraine,” as he says “the destiny of this country is the destiny of Europe.”

He says he is “sceptical” about “some of the details coming in the documents from the US side,” and says that’s what he wants to talk with other leaders about.

And they will now continue the talks behind the closed doors.