It’s a relationship that may have seemed unlikely, especially given the past tension between Britain and France over Brexit. But as the heads of Europe’s two nuclear-armed military powers, the pair have formed a bond and worked as a tag team to encourage Trump and Zelenskyy to move closer to a deal, sharing ideas and alternating between hosting meetings in Paris and London. Starmer is “doing a great job,” especially with Trump, one French official said recently.
British officials were convinced that Zelenskyy had to patch things up with Trump. Eventually, the Ukrainian leader relented. In a conciliatory letter that was seen by some as an apology, he said he was ready to work for peace under Trump’s “strong leadership” and described the White House clash as “regrettable.”
Central to the efforts to mend relations was Britain’s National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell. A veteran of Tony Blair’s 1997 to 2007 government, where he served as chief of staff, Powell has a record of handling seemingly impossible negotiations, having worked on brokering a peace accord in Northern Ireland in the 1990s.
Last week, Starmer tasked Powell with fixing the Ukraine-U.S. dispute, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorised to speak publicly. Powell worked closely with his American counterpart Mike Waltz and kept in close contact with French and German officials.
They did not have much time: The scheduled meeting between U.S. and Ukrainian diplomats in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, March 11 would be a critical chance to move forward, perhaps the last realistic opportunity for a ceasefire.
Over the weekend, Powell traveled to Kyiv where he sat down with Zelenskyy and his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, to draft the ceasefire agreement they hoped the U.S. and Ukraine would sign this week.