Keir Starmer asked how he felt seeing Putin get red carpet treatment by Donald Trump

Keir Starmer has praised Donald Trump's efforts as he swerved a question on Vladimir Putin being given the red carpet treatment.

The PM was asked by BBC Breakfast how he felt seeing the Russian leader being given a VIP welcome by Trump in Alaska last week. On Monday Mr Starmer jetted to the White House to meet the US President along with Volodymyr Zelensky and seven other European leaders.

It came days after Trump held a face-to-face meeting with tyrant Putin, whose forces are mercilessly pursuing his illegal invasion after more than three years. The PM was asked: "How did you feel personally when you saw Putin being given a red carpet?”

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He responded: "Well, I support President Trump's efforts to bring about a lasting outcome and peaceful settlement of this conflict that’s been going on for over three years now…

“Today has shown that we have moved forward, and that in the end for me has always been the test, are we making real progress?”

Putin's visit with Trump - which did not include a meeting with Ukrainian leader Mr Zelensky - made observers around the world deeply uneasy. The two warmly shook hands, while a red carpet was rolled out for the despot.

There was also a flyover for the two leaders to enjoy. On Monday Trump said he had spoken to Russia about organising direct talks with Ukraine about ending the war.

Mr Starmer went on: "I'm really pleased, that in two materials facts, we've had a breakthrough on security guarantees and real moving forward on the bilateral and trilateral meetings. That's what I wanted to happen today. And I'm really pleased that we've got to that point."

He was one of several European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian PM Georgia Meloni and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte in attendance.

Mr Trump said he spoke directly with Vladimir Putin to begin planning a meeting between the Russian leader and Mr Zelensky. He also said Moscow will "accept" multinational efforts to guarantee Ukraine's security.

Mr Starmer described the talks as "good and constructive", adding: "There was a real sense of unity between the European leaders that were there, and president Trump and president Zelensky". The Prime Minister highlighted "two material outcomes" from the talks, firstly that the coalition of the willing "will now work with the US" on security guarantees.

"That's really important for security in Ukraine, for security in Europe, and for security in the UK," he said. "The other material outcome was the agreement that there will now be a bilateral agreement between president Putin and president Zelensky, that was after a phone call between president Trump and president Putin during the course of this afternoon, followed by a trilateral which will then add in president Trump.

"That is a recognition of the principle that on some of these issues, whether it's territory or the exchange of prisoners, or the very serious issue of the return of children, that is something where Ukraine must be at the table.

"These were the two outcomes that were the most important coming out of today. They're positive outcomes, there was a real sense of unity. We've made real progress today."

Posting on his Truth Social platform after the meeting, Mr Trump also described the talks as "very good", adding: "During the meeting we discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, which guarantees would be provided by the various European countries, with a coordination with the United States of America.

"Everyone is happy about the possibility of PEACE for Russia/Ukraine. At the conclusion of the meetings, I called president Putin and began arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between president Putin and president Zelensky.

"After the meeting takes place, we will have a trilat which would be the two presidents plus myself."

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