President Zelenskyy visits Chatham House to discuss defence and reconstruction of Ukraine
News release
jon.wallace
23 June 2025
The president discussed Ukraine’s military position, his hopes for the NATO summit, and more.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Chatham House on Monday 23 June as part of a trip to the UK that included meetings with King Charles III and Prime Minister Keir Starmer. President Zelenskyy made the visit to discuss his country’s war effort and how to place additional pressure on Russia to end its war on Ukraine.
The president’s main purpose in meeting UK government officials was to discuss defence cooperation with the UK. But during his closed-door session at Chatham House, held under the Chatham House Rule, the president took questions from journalists, investors, foreign policy experts and policymakers, on Ukraine’s military and economic outlook, his hopes for the forthcoming NATO summit in the Hague, US relations, and his ambitions for a just peace in Ukraine.
In his discussion with Chatham House experts, the president also discussed the think tank’s significant work on planning for Ukrainian rapid recovery and post-war reconstruction.
President Zelenskyy speaks about his meeting with Keir Starmer and Ukraine’s relationship with the UK.
Orysia Lutsevych, Head of Chatham House’s Ukraine Forum, said:
‘We were honoured to host the president today to better understand the evolution of the war and think together how Europe and Ukraine can join forces in defending against the Russian threat.
‘Chatham House’s Ukraine Forum closely follows current efforts to design an effective recovery framework and will take its new research on citizen-driven recovery to Rome’s Ukraine Recovery Conference in July.’
In his opening remarks, President Zelenskyy said:
‘It’s important to be here at Chatham House and first of all in the United Kingdom…British people helped Ukraine at the very beginning of this war and are standing with us today and I am very thankful for this. Today I want to thank Keir Starmer.’
