David Lammy humiliated as US top brass pull out of his London Ukraine peace talks

David Lammy has pulled out of his own London Ukraine peace summit today after an embarrassing snub by the Americans. The UK Government had been confident this weekend that Marco Rubio, the US foreign secretary, and US special envoy Steve Witkoff, would be in attendance at the crunch meeting.

However, David Lammy has been dealt a humiliating blow as both US top brass politicians pulled out. Representatives from Ukraine, the UK and France will still meet today, but it will no longer be primarily hosted by foreign secretary David Lammy. Neither Mr Rubio nor Mr Witkoff explained their reason for not attending.

The US will instead be represented by Keith Kelogg, the White House's Ukraine envoy.

Mr Lammy has said today's meeting in London will include discussion of "what a ceasefire might look like and how to secure peace in the long term".

Ahead of Wednesday's talks, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he had a "productive call" with Mr Rubio.

He said: "The UK is working with the US, Ukraine and Europe to put an end to Putin's illegal invasion."

The summit comes amid reports Donald Trump is backing ceasefire proposals that will allow Putin to keep hold of nearly all the territory he's captured from Ukraine since the war broke out.

The major concession to Russia's bloodthirsty tyrant is part of a seven-point plan to end the war, but which contains no US security guarantee for Ukraine to ensure the peace is kept.

In return, Ukraine would regain two small areas of its land currently occupied by Russian troops, and regain full access to the mouth of the Dnieper river.

The plan will form part of today's discussion in London, and be the first opportunity for the US to hear Ukraine's thoughts.

Mr Rubio said the US delegation - now without him - was "looking forward to substantive and good technical meetings with Ukrainian and UK counterparts" and indicated he would be "rescheduling my trip to the UK in the coming months".

The summit also comes after Vladimir Putin announced a supposed ceasefire in Ukraine over the Easter weekend, however Kyiv reported thousands of incidents of Russian troops continuing the fighting.

These claims were backed by the UK's ministry of defence yesterday, with defence secretary John Healey telling the Commons: "Despite President Putin's promise of a 30-hour pause in fighting, I can confirm that Defence Intelligence [an MoD unit] has found, and I quote, 'no indication that a ceasefire on the frontline was observed over the Easter period'."

"So, while Putin has said he declared an Easter truce - he broke it.

"While Putin says he wants peace - he rejected a full ceasefire. And while Putin says he wants to put an end to the fighting - he continues to play for time in negotiations."