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“We’re at a crossroads in historical past,” Mr. Starmer stated after the assembly. “Europe should do the heavy lifting,” he declared, however added, “To help peace, and to succeed, this effort will need to have sturdy U.S. backing.”

Mr. Starmer stated he believed that regardless of Mr. Trump’s anger towards Mr. Zelensky within the Oval Workplace on Friday, Mr. Trump was dedicated to an enduring peace settlement between Ukraine and Russia. He stated Britain and France, working with different European international locations, would develop their very own plan with Mr. Zelensky.

Particulars of the plan have been sketchy, however Mr. Starmer urged that the Europeans might use it as a foundation to influence Mr. Trump to decide to American safety ensures. Britain and France have already pledged to contribute troops to a peacekeeping power and are attempting to enlist different international locations throughout Europe.

“I wouldn’t be taking this step down this street if I didn’t assume it might yield a optimistic consequence when it comes to making certain that we transfer collectively,” Mr. Starmer stated, referring to Mr. Trump.

His feedback captured the dilemma confronting Europe two weeks after Mr. Trump’s shock overture to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Neither Europe nor Ukraine presently has seats on the desk in a possible Trump-brokered peace deal. Nor has Mr. Trump agreed to offer any safety assurances to forestall Russia from launching one other invasion of its neighbor.

Mr. Trump’s acrimonious trade with Mr. Zelensky deepened the divide. “No person wished to see what occurred final Friday,” stated Mr. Starmer, who had his personal, a lot smoother assembly with Mr. Trump a day earlier.

The prime minister has tried to mediate between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump. Talking to each males by telephone after their conflict, he floated the thought of Mr. Zelensky’s returning to the White Home on Friday night to fix fences with the president, in accordance with a senior British official.

Each leaders demurred, saying it might be higher to let tempers cool and the air to clear, in accordance with the official, who spoke on the situation of anonymity due to the delicacy of the problem.

Nonetheless, Mr. Zelensky has additionally expressed a perception that his rift with Mr. Trump isn’t irreparable. “I believe our relationship will proceed,” he informed reporters after the gathering in London. He did, nevertheless, take difficulty with what occurred on the White Home.

“I don’t assume it’s proper when such discussions are completely open,” Mr. Zelensky stated including that “the format of what occurred, I don’t assume it introduced one thing optimistic or extra to us as companions.”

On Sunday in London, Europe wrapped Mr. Zelensky in a heat embrace. He gained gestures of help from the 18 assembled leaders, together with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada.

Afterward, Mr. Zelensky flew to fulfill King Charles III at his nation property, Sandringham, northeast of London. That go to, on the request of Mr. Zelensky, had a symbolic resonance, since Mr. Starmer had hand-delivered a uncommon invitation to Mr. Trump from the king to make a second state go to to Britain.

But behind the choreographed present of solidarity, there was a recognition that conserving america on board stays essential.

“Starmer has two targets,” stated Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst on the political threat consultancy Eurasia Group. “Construct a suggestion with the Ukrainians and Europeans that retains the U.S. positively engaged in Ukraine’s safety, whereas concurrently making ready for a worst-case situation the place that will not show attainable.”

That may require European international locations to shoulder a a lot heavier burden within the continent’s protection. Mr. Starmer pushed leaders to observe Britain in bolstering its army spending. Mark Rutte, the secretary basic of NATO, stated a number of international locations had pledged to take action, although he declined to call them.

On Saturday, after assembly Mr. Zelensky, Mr. Starmer gave Ukraine a mortgage of two.26 billion kilos (about $2.8 billion) to purchase army {hardware}. On Sunday, he introduced plans to permit Ukraine to make use of 1.6 billion kilos ($2 billion) in British export financing to purchase greater than 5,000 superior air protection missiles.

The president of the European Fee, Ursula von der Leyen, stated the European Union would fortify Ukraine with financial and army support, aiming to show it into “a metal porcupine that’s indigestible for potential invaders.”

The Ukraine conflict has thrust Mr. Starmer into an unaccustomed place for a British prime minister: the center of Europe, throughout a disaster. Greater than eight years after the nation voted to go away the European Union, the quickly altering safety panorama is driving Britain nearer to the continent.

Catherine Ashton, a Briton who served because the bloc’s excessive consultant for international affairs and safety coverage, stated Mr. Starmer’s profitable assembly with Mr. Trump had bolstered his credentials as a pacesetter for Europe.

“It’s unsurprising that allies in Europe are gathering in London this weekend and equally unsurprising that the U.Okay. is being taken far more critically in Brussels and capitals,” Ms. Ashton stated.

And but there are limits to Mr. Starmer’s diplomacy. He was unable to extract safety ensures from Mr. Trump, regardless of an exaggerated present of deference to the president that included the invitation from the king.

In Washington, a Trump administration official stated Mr. Trump would meet on Monday along with his prime nationwide safety aides, together with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth, to contemplate, and presumably take motion on, a spread of coverage choices for Ukraine.

These embody suspending or canceling American army support to Ukraine, together with the ultimate shipments of ammunition and gear approved and paid for throughout the Biden administration, stated the official, who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate inside deliberations.

For Mr. Starmer, the disaster is a chance to attract nearer to Europe. He has lengthy wished to try this on the commerce entrance however has approached it gingerly due to the political sensitivities at residence. The Labour Get together doesn’t wish to lose its core working-class voters, a lot of whom favored Brexit, to the anti-immigration celebration, Reform U.Okay., which is led by Nigel Farage.

However boosting army spending is in style with Reform voters. Standing behind Ukraine and in opposition to Russian aggression additionally places Mr. Farage, along with his historical past of sympathy for Mr. Putin, in a tough place.

Whether or not that may enable Mr. Starmer to reintegrate Britain’s financial system and commerce with that of the European Union is one other query. Some analysts famous that the E.U. was in no rush to overtake its current commerce settlement with Britain, which it views as helpful to the continent. Mr. Starmer’s political fortunes nonetheless rely on his authorities’s turning round Britain’s ailing financial system.

“The nation is in such a dire state that I don’t assume Starmer will probably be rewarded for being a world statesman,” stated Mr. Rahman, the analyst. “It’s an arguably harmful factor for a first-rate minister to attempt to construct political capital overseas when the home agenda isn’t shifting within the route he needs.”

Mr. Starmer’s use of the phrase “coalition of the prepared” had a disquieting echo of President George W. Bush within the lead-up to the Iraq conflict. Britain, beneath a Labour prime minister, Tony Blair, joined america, however France and Germany didn’t.

The shock of Mr. Trump’s statements about Russia and Ukraine might scale back such divisions this time round, diplomats stated.

“Folks notice they will not depend on a pleasant Russia and a beneficiant America, and that they must get their act collectively on numerous points, together with protection and safety,” stated João Vale de Almeida, a former E.U. ambassador to america and Britain. The British, he stated, are “extra European than American when it comes to what unites them to Europe and what unites them to America.”

Nonetheless, Mr. Starmer, who stated he mentioned his plans with Mr. Trump on Saturday night time, rejected recommendations that the trans-Atlantic alliance was completed. “I don’t settle for that the U.S. is an unreliable ally,” he stated.

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.