A Russian drone strike has damaged a storage centre for spent nuclear fuel nine miles from the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, hours before Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in London for emergency talks with Ukraine’s staunchest allies.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, described the incident as “deeply concerning” and said the agency would visit the site soon. Zelenskyy branded it an “extremely despicable Russian attack”.
“Russian drone strike damages spent nuclear fuel storage near Chernobyl; Zelenskyy meets Starmer, Macron, Merz in London for urgent talks.”
By Sunday evening the Ukrainian president was in Downing Street, where Keir Starmer hosted him alongside Emmanuel Macron of France and Friedrich Merz of Germany. The leaders discussed “the urgent need to scale up” Ukraine’s air defences and deep-strike capabilities after Russia fired Oreshnik hypersonic weapons at Ukraine, Downing Street said.
Before the meeting, Zelenskyy told Sky News: “We will respond. We will be stronger and stronger each day.” He vowed Ukraine would not “silently die”.
The four leaders condemned Russia’s large-scale missile and drone attacks and called on Vladimir Putin to agree “an immediate and complete ceasefire” with the current line of contact as a starting point for negotiations.
In a joint statement, the British, French and German leaders set out a five-point path to peace. It starts with an immediate ceasefire and negotiations, insisting that “international borders must not be changed by force” and that Ukraine’s sovereign right to choose its own security arrangements must be fully respected. The third point demands “robust and legally binding” security guarantees, including the deployment of a multinational force. Fourth, Russian assets will remain immobilised until Moscow ends its war and compensates Ukraine. Finally, European security interests must be safeguarded in any deal.
The three European nations – the UK, France and Germany – form the so-called E3 group, with the UK and France leading a “coalition of the willing” to provide security guarantees for Ukraine.
The meeting came after a week of heightened hostilities and after Putin rejected Zelenskyy’s proposal for face-to-face talks, claiming he saw “no point” in a meeting.
Starmer and Zelenskyy continued talks for about half an hour after the other leaders left, then shook hands and posed for photographs outside No 10. Zelenskyy is due to meet King Charles on Monday.
Leaders will now look to the G7 summit at Evian on 15 June to drum up more support for Ukraine and push for further economic sanctions and an increased pledge of military and defence support at the Nato summit in July.