Burnham treads carefully in Zelensky visit, balancing Trump and Ukraine

President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to London follows a well-trodden diplomatic path in a war now in its fifth year.

For months, US President Donald Trump had been a largely benign presence in the conflict, promising Ukraine greater access to American air defence technology and threatening more sanctions on Russia.

Then last week Trump carried out an abrupt U-turn, lifting sanctions on Russian diesel and calling for Zelensky to be replaced.

Once again Ukraine's leader got on his plane to shore up support among European allies. Today London, tomorrow Brussels.

For the prime minister there was the tricky but now familiar diplomatic task of needing to show solidarity with Zelensky without appearing to criticise Trump.

Burnham's answer was to say and announce as much as he could without exposing himself to questions from journalists asking about Trump's latest betrayal of Kyiv.

So Downing Street issued an embargoed press notice overnight with warm words of support for Zelensky.

It said Burnham would promise to go "further and faster" in helping Ukraine with financial and military aid.

Specifically, the prime minister would pledge to speed up the delivery of lightweight multirole missiles that can help bring down fast jet-powered Russian drones.

There was a military honour guard in Downing Street to greet Ukraine's president, followed by a controlled photo opportunity showing the start of the meeting between the two men.

In No10, before that meeting, Burnham told Zelensky that Britain stood with him "at this difficult time".

He said it was clear "who the aggressor is" after Russia's attacks on Ukraine's critical national infrastructure. And crucially he praised Zelensky for his "leadership" in being prepared to sit down and discuss Donald Trump's call for an energy ceasefire.

In his reply, Zelensky said it was an "absolutely terrible time" for Ukraine. There was no energy ceasefire, he said, but Russian escalation instead.

He said Ukraine "counted on partnership with the US" but spoke of "some difficulties" and "different surprises" with Ukraine's access to US intelligence and the Starlink satellite network.

In the House of Commons, at the start of his weekly question time, Burnham used the opportunity to offer what he called his "unwavering" support for Zelensky and promise greater military and financial aid in the future.

But it fell to the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Ed Davey, to ask the question journalists might have asked if they had the chance.

Sir Ed said the prime minister had studiously avoided commenting on Trump's decision to rip up international sanctions on Russia.

"This House does deserve to know his position, as does frankly President Zelensky and our brave Ukrainian allies," Sir Ed said.

"Doesn't he agree this is yet another shameful Trump betrayal of the Ukrainian people and European security?"

In reply, Burnham admitted it was a "very dark and difficult moment" for Zelensky, who was "carrying the heaviest of weights" right now.

But Burnham eschewed the chance to criticise Trump and told MPs this: "What I have to do in my role is try and repair bridges so that the support comes back and therefore I should, at this moment in time, be careful in terms of laying the ground to bring people back together."

"That is the role I intend to play - it's the right role for me to play - in this moment. I will listen to President Zelensky carefully but he won't be going away from Britain today empty handed."

In other words, do not expect the prime minister to join in the widespread European criticism of Trump.

After the now infamous falling out between Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office in February 2025, the UK played a key role in calming the row and bringing both sides back together.

A key player was national security adviser Jonathan Powell, who shuttled between Washington and Kyiv pouring oil on troubled waters. It seems Burnham hopes the UK can play a similar bridge-building role now.

For millions of Ukrainians facing a grim winter potentially with less US support than before, the task could not be more urgent.