Zelensky’s top aide says monarch’s input before change of heart by US president was ‘very important’
Diplomatic sources said it was no coincidence that Donald Trump’s new position came so soon after his conversations with the King Credit: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Joe Barnes Brussels Correspondent.
Hannah Furness Royal Editor
26 September, 2025
The King played a critical role in persuading Donald Trump that Ukraine could win the waragainst Russia.
Private talks with the monarch during the recent state visit were “very important”, Volodymyr Zelensky’s top adviser told The Telegraph.
The US president said this week that Ukraine was in a position to take back all its land from Russian forces.
The comments were a stark departure from his previous insistence that Ukraine should give up territory to Russia to end the war.
His change in position followed a meeting with Mr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, at the United Nations this week.
Asked whether the Ukrainian delegation had changed Mr Trump’s mind, Andriy Yermak, Mr Zelensky’s chief of staff, instead praised the efforts of the King and Sir Keir Starmer.
“I’d like to mention that it was a great visit of President Trump to the United Kingdom, and I know the position of His Majesty, the position of Prime Minister Starmer and the people whom President Trump met… it was very important,” he said.
Diplomatic sources suggested it was no coincidence that Mr Trump’s change of heart had come so soon after his conversations with the King.
The monarch is believed to have discussed Ukraine in private meetings with the president during the state visit.
The King hosted the Trumps at Windsor Castle, spending lunch and dinner with them as well as escorting them on a full day of activities. In his speech at the state banquet, he mentioned Ukraine once by name in a speech noted for its political tone.
Addressing the president, he said: “Our countries have the closest defence, security and intelligence relationship ever known.
“In two world wars, we fought together to defeat the forces of tyranny. Today, as tyranny once again threatens Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine, to deter aggression and secure peace.”
The Telegraph can also reveal that Mr Zelensky used his meeting with Mr Trump on the fringes of the UN General Assembly to ask for shipments of Tomahawk missiles that could strike Moscow.
Sources said the Ukrainian president told his American counterpart that the hi-tech weapons system would help bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table to discuss a peace accord.
It remains uncertain whether Mr Trump will grant the request, although Mr Zelensky appeared to suggest that he was amenable to the proposition in an interview with the Axios news website.
Mr Yermak said: “I can say that some weapons that are very important for Ukraine, for defending and continuing to fight, we have probably for the first time heard a very open and positive position, which we have never had before. This is big progress.”
The King has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine’s resistance against the Russian invasion. In March, he hosted Mr Zelensky at Sandringham for tea, days after the Ukrainian leader’s bruising encounter with Mr Trump and JD Vance in the White House.
Mr Yermak singled out a visit by Jonathan Powell, Britain’s national security adviser, to meet soldiers on the frontlines in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region before the state visit.
“I’m sure they have the opportunity to use this information and impressions during their conversations with our American friends,” he said.
Mr Trump, an Anglophile and royal fan, revelled in the hospitality offered to him by the King, describing Charles as a “very, very special man” during his dinner speech.
Diplomatic sources said Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, told European counterparts that Mr Trump’s change in tone on Ukraine should be viewed “as positive as possible”.
Mr Rubio also conveyed that Mr Trump was “really angry” at Putin for ignoring his attempts to bring an end to the three-and-a-half-year war.
“I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form,” Mr Trump wrote on social media after sitting down with Mr Zelensky.
He added: “With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, Nato, the original borders from where this war started is very much an option.”
A White House official told The Telegraph that if Putin was smart, he would “urgently pursue a deal to end the war which has done significant damage to Russia’s reputation”.
“As the President stated, the war hasn’t been going well for Russia, whose economy is in shambles and who continue to lose thousands of lives to gain ‘virtually no land,’” they said.
“If they were smart, they would more urgently pursue a deal to end the war which has done significant damage to Russia’s reputation, stop the killing, and get their country back on the right track. President Putin has repeatedly rejected generous proposals toward peace that would have benefited Russia.”
I did speculate in comments as to whether the King would raise the issue of Ukraine in his private talks with Trump.
It seems that he did so and it is already producing positive results.
In 2014 he hacked off the putler murder gang when he became the first public figure to compare the thieving of Crimea with that of Sudetenland.
Trump should get with the King and decide to enforce Budapest…
Comment from :
Neil neil
About time America woke up and realised that Putin has taken them for a ride. Well done to The King and especially a 2nd State Visit. Who says our heritage and tradition has no place in the modern world? This is what it means to be British; celebrate the past and use to shape the future not just Britain but the rest of Europe. God Save The King. Also her late Majesty QEll as she schmoozed Trump when he was in awe of her standing in the world.
Erik Evans
Reply to Neil neil
The one thing Donald Trump cannot stand is thinking he got screwed in a transaction, or was made to look like a loser.
Putin has done that a few times now over the course of the calendar year. I think DT’s forbearance is at an end.
Catherine Best
Oh my, have you missed the most important part of that statement. He is saying the EU and Europe can financially support Ukraine to win. Not the US. Can we afford it?
septimius severus
Putin will not give up unless he is forced and that requires Trump to do more than talk. Saying he has been annoyed has little impact. Trump is however right that the West has got to stop buying Russian oil and its assets must be seized and given to Ukraine.
The cruise missiles are a good idea. Missiles falling on Moscow will concentrate Putin’s mind as the populace will think how are we winning this war?
marc lewis
I think El Kingy mighta done some good here.
Trump is in thrall to the autocrats, as he wants the power they have, but Putin has overplayed his hand & forgotten that Donald is as fickle as the wind…. Maybe now at last He sees Putin for what he is….a rump of a president with delusions of previous Glories, willing to sacrifice 1m men for a few miles of dirt.
A few missiles is chump change to destroy a century old enemy.
Scott Driver
Trump is half Scottish on his mother’s side, owns Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links Scotland in Aberdeenshire.
He’s been a massive fan of the Royal family, Meghan and Harry excepted, so it should be no surprise that King Charles did have an impact. Trump is more influenced by personal relationships than anything else and mistrusts a lot of previous analysis brought to him by various US government intelligence groups given what the Democrats did in his first term.
Bush relied upon input from the CIA and look how that turned out…launching Iraq invasion 2.0 and no WMD to be found.
A Srivastava
It is too early to say that Trump has made a U turn. He is now asking Ukraine to fight on their own or with their European allies and not committing US to join the war. And it is unlikely that Allies will join a war against Russia unless US actively participates. So it is basically a stalemate.
toby roberts
The late Queen seemed an almost impossible act to follow, but you’ve got to hand it to Charles, he’s made the crown his own. He and the Queen haven’t set a foot wrong, and they seem to share the late Queen’s work ethic and sense of duty.
Most of us crusty DT readers probably disagree with some of Charles’s more liberal causes. But so what? Let’s give him credit for his sincerity, his patriotism, and his obvious desire to do all he can to be a unifying force in an increasingly divided nation.
Scott Driver is a frequent commentor who is a rarity: a maga who supports Ukraine. Most of them commenting in the DT do nothing but sneer at Zel.
But on Iraq, he forgets that Saddam DID have WMD’s and used them in a demonic crime; the gassing of the Kurds.
He had to die and hopefully the rat nazi too before too long.
A commenter named Stephen Mendes said:
“Regardless of the truth (or not) of this revelation, two things bother me: Zelenskiy’s aide is being incredibly indiscreet by revealing this (an unforgivable breach of protocol), and secondly, why is our king meddling in foreign policy? he seems to meddle an awful lot in politics and ought to know better.”
I beg to differ. I think that Mr Yermak was right to bring this out in the open. It makes another Trump reversal on Ukraine less likely.
Maybe that’s right. Perhaps a king impresses the man-child more than tyrants.