Starmer wants world leaders to 'double down' on support for Ukraine as he travels to G20 summit

ITV News' Political Editor Robert Peston explains what the prime minister's ambitions are for the G20 summit in Rio

The prime minister says his “number one agenda item” at the G20 summit of world leaders in Rio tomorrow is to “shore up support for Ukraine”, ahead of the peace deal President-elect Trump says he want to make with Moscow when taking office in January.

On his flight to Brazil, and in response to questions from journalists travelling with him, Sir Keir Starmer said: “We are coming up to the thousandth day of this conflict [in Ukraine].

"That’s 1000 days of Russian aggression, 1000 days of huge impact and sacrifice in relation to the Ukrainian people…That’s why we need to double down on shoring up our support for Ukraine.

"It’s got to be full support for as long as it takes”.

Even so, Starmer said that he wants the UK’s “special relationship” with America “to be as strong as it has ever been”, though his full-throated support for Kiev seems a million miles from Trump’s preference for a negotiated settlement with President Putin.

Starmer added that the recent arrival of North Korean troops to support Russia had “serious implications for European security and for Indo Pacific security”, and this was another reason why it would be wrong to lessen western backing for President Zelenskyy and Kiev.

Starmer was asked whether there is any point to decisions taken by government heads of the world’s most powerful economies over the next 48 hours, given that president-elect Trump will not be present, and may not honour anything agreed by President Biden.

“Yes of course” he said. “There are really important issues right here, right now, when it comes to Ukraine that it’s important we pursue. That’s why I’ll be making my number one agenda item to shore up support for Ukraine”.

Starmer said he had no plans to hold talks with Russia’s president Putin, who will be represented in Rio by his foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

The British prime minister had no comment to make on a conversation that the German chancellor Olaf Sholz had with Putin that has been savaged by Zelenskyy.

“It’s a matter for the chancellor who he speaks to” he said.

It is understood what Starmer wants to secure in Rio is for President Biden to give permission for Ukraine and President Zelenskyy to be able to fire UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory, and to increase financial support for Ukraine.

By contrast, Trump says he is working on an immediate deal to end the war in Ukraine, and many of those close to Trump are pressing him to reduce military and financial backing for Kiev.

Trump’s choice to be National Intelligence Adviser Tulsi Gabbard is seen as a Russian sympathiser and has in the past said that the Russian invasion could have been prevented if Biden had “acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns”.

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