Sir Keir Starmer has described Donald Trump’s White House meeting with Europe’s leaders and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as crucial for the “security of the United Kingdom”.

Sitting in Washington DC alongside seven of Europe’s top leaders, as well as Mr Trump, Sir Keir lauded the meeting as a potentially “historic step” towards ending the war in Ukraine, and shoring up the security of the continent and the UK.

The prime minister said: “We all want peace. The war in Ukraine’s had a huge impact, particularly on the Ukrainians who’ve borne the brunt of it, but it’s also had an impact on Europe and on the United Kingdom. There’s not a family or community that hasn’t been affected.

“When we talk about security, we’re talking about the security not just of Ukraine, we’re talking about the security of Europe and the United Kingdom as well, which is why this is such an important issue.”

Speaking to Donald Trump, Sir Keir added: “With you coming alongside, the US alongside, what we’ve already developed, I think we could take a really important step forward today – a historic step, actually, could come out of this meeting in terms of security for Ukraine and security in Europe.”

Earlier, Trump described Sir Keir as his “friend” during his introduction of the leaders. “Prime Minister Starmer of the United Kingdom, our friend and my friend, and doing really well – and people like him a lot,” Mr Trump said.

The meeting between Sir Keir, Mr Trump, Mr Zelensky and the leaders of France, Germany, Finland, Italy, the European Union and Nato comes after the US leader met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last week.

There were no concrete agreements publicised from last week’s meeting but Mr Trump entered into Monday’s talks optimistic that a trilateral meeting with Russia and Ukraine’s leaders could be possible in the near future. If it happens, it would be the first face to face talks between Putin and Mr Zelensky since the Russian leader launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russian forces had already occupied parts of eastern Ukraine for eight years prior to that all-out assault.

Previous face-to-face meetings between the two leaders to end the first rounds of fighting prior to 2022 failed to achieve a permanent truce, ultimately presaging Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The White House meeting on Monday was the first time that Mr Zelensky had met with Mr Trump in Washington DC since an astonishing shouting match in February between the Ukrainian leader and US vice president JD Vance played out in front of the media and culminated in the intended day of diplomacy being cut short without an agreement.

Mr Vance accused Mr Zelensky of failing to show gratitude for American support for Ukraine while the Ukrainian president drew the ire of Mr Trump after suggesting Russia posed a threat to US security.

The tone of Monday’s talks were markedly more positive. Mr Zelensky described his discussions with Mr Trump as “very good” as the pair laughed together.

The Ukrainian leader said: “We are very happy with the president that all the leaders are here and security in Ukraine depends on the United States and on you and on those leaders who are with us in our hearts.”