Starmer confirms 'steadfast' support for Ukraine as European leaders gather for UK summit

UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer on Thursday prioritised "steadfast support for Ukraine" during a speech to leaders at a European Political Community summit in a grandiose English country mansion.

Starmer is welcoming some 45 European heads of government to discuss migration, energy security and the threat from Russia as he seeks to restore relations between his country and its European Union neighbours, four years after the U.K. split from Brussels.

Starmer told the gathering that the U.K. plans to take a more active role on the world stage, especially when it comes to Ukraine's fight against Russia’s invasion and to people-smuggling gangs organizing irregular migration.

He called for European leaders to "unite once again behind those values that we cherish, and to say we will face down aggression on this continent together", adding that the threat from Russia “reaches right across Europe.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a key guest at the meeting, aimed at shoring up Europe’s support for his country and discussing ways to defend democracy.

Zelenskyy told fellow attendees that "Putin cannot sustain relationships with truly strong leaders" and warned that the Russian president may look for ways to disrupt European unity by courting individual premiers.

Hungary's pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has recently riled other EU nations with a series of meetings with foreign leaders about Ukraine, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In response, top officials of the European Union announced a boycott of informal meetings hosted by Hungary while the country holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

The meeting is the fourth for the European Political Community group, a brainchild of French president, Emmanuel Macron.

It was established in 2022 as a forum for countries both inside and outside the 27-nation EU after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine shattered Europe’s sense of security.

Previous summits have been in the Czech capital Prague; Chisinau, Moldova; and Granada, Spain.

The guest list includes German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

The U.K. hopes this will be the best-attended summit to date, though EU chief Ursula von der Leyen is staying away as she fights to secure a second term as European Commission president from lawmakers in the European Parliament.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also is not expected to attend.

When Britain agreed earlier this year to hold the one-day summit, Conservative leader Rishi Sunak was prime minister.

His defeat in the July 4 election means it’s Starmer who is welcoming leaders to Blenheim Palace, a Baroque country house some 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of London.

Starmer’s center-left government aims to rebuild ties with the EU, strained by years of ill-tempered wrangling over Brexit terms.