After the verbal assault on Volodymyr Zelenskyy by Donald Trump and his vice-president JD Vance, Ukraine was facing catastrophe. The obvious risk was that Trump would work with Vladimir Putin to force an isolated Ukraine to accept a de facto Russian victory.

That risk still remains. But some highly adept diplomacy by Britain’s prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, working closely with France’s Emmanuel Macron, has staved off the worst for now. At a meeting in London, Zelenskyy was warmly embraced by European political leaders and later met King Charles — who seemed unconcerned that the Ukrainian leader was not wearing a suit. The message was clear. Zelenskyy and Ukraine are not alone.

Even more important, Starmer and Macron may have temporarily wrested the diplomatic initiative from Trump and Putin. By announcing that European nations will work with Ukraine on a peace proposal — which will then be presented to the US — they have made it harder for Trump to treat peace in Ukraine as something to be negotiated between America and Russia alone.