Notwithstanding the warmth of the embrace when Volodymyr Zelensky left his talks with the prime minister in Downing Street, the president of Ukraine has been left isolated and, disgracefully, out in the cold as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin meet in Alaska to discuss the fate of his country.
It may be that there can be no settlement on Ukraine without Ukraine, as European leaders and Mr Zelensky himself tried to tell President Trump during their virtual meeting. But the framework for that settlement will unquestionably be constructed far away from Kyiv.
