Zelenskyy to meet Starmer today for emergency Ukraine summit as Putin dismisses offer of peace talks

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The Ukrainian leader will visit the UK with the French President, Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, after a week of heightened hostilities and Putin’s rejection of his proposal of face-to-face talks on Moscow’s war.

The nations' leaders are seen as some of Mr Zelenskyy's strongest allies with the UK and France leading the "coalition of the willing" initiative to provide security guarantees for Kyiv as part of a peace process.

The meeting comes after the Ukrainian leader sent an open letter to Putin on Thursday in which he called for direct negotiations between them aimed at ending the war which began more than four years ago.

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On Friday, Putin rejected a proposal by Mr Zelenskyy for face-to-face talks on the four-year-old war, claiming he saw "no point" in a meeting.

Mr Zelenskyy wrote that it was "wrong to simply wait" for the war to become the focus of US attention once more.

But the Russian premier called the letter "rude" and said he did not see the point in meeting his counterpart.

"I don't see any point for now," he said when asked whether he would take up Mr Zelenskyy's offer at Russia's annual economic forum in St Petersburg on Friday.

Tensions then rose again as Ukraine said it struck an oil depot and an oil terminal in Russia’s Leningrad region overnight on Friday.

Officials described a wave of drone attacks around St Petersburg as "unprecedented".

Writing on X, Mr Zelenskyy said on Saturday: "Last night, our drones covered a distance of about 1,000 kilometres to the St Petersburg region – to the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base in Kronstadt.

"Our long-range sanctions also reached about 500 kilometres into the Krasnodar region – and hit an oil depot."

Ukraine’s military later said it had hit an oil depot and an oil terminal in the Leningrad region during the overnight operation.

Russian authorities said more than 140 drones were shot down over the wider Leningrad region.

Posting on social media on Saturday, Mr Zelenskyy said it was "time to end this war" but accused the Kremlin of wanting to "keep fighting".

He said Ukrainian drones had reached the St Petersburg region and targeted “the enemy navy’s arsenals and a base in Kronstadt”, the main base of Russia’s Baltic Fleet.

Releasing a statement ahead of the meeting, the French Elysee said: "This meeting will allow them to continue their ​close coordination on our shared agenda of ​continuing support for Ukraine and increasing pressure on ⁠Russia’s war effort.

"Russia is facing ​military, economic, and strategic failure — and persists, unsuccessfully, on ​the front lines in a deadly war."

Sunday's meeting will also "take stock of the work undertaken in favour of a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and on the European continent", the French presidency said.

Speaking before an European Union meeting on Friday, Mr Macron said: "I believe that it is now up to Ukraine and Russia to establish both a ceasefire and a peace plan.

"It is the Europeans who can help with this. I think now is the time, given how the situation is developing".

The so-called E3 group of nations meeting the Ukrainian leader are some of Kyiv’s staunchest allies, with the UK and France leading the so-called "coalition of the willing" initiative to provide security guarantees for Ukraine as part of a peace process.

Putin has refused to entertain any agreement which doesn’t involve Kyiv surrendering swathes of land it still holds in the eastern Donbas region.

Mr Zelenskyy has previously said it was time for the Kremlin chief to agree to a ceasefire along the current front lines.