Britain is preparing to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a state visit in 2027, an event intended to project solidarity with Ukraine as its war against Russia enters a fifth year.

According to the Financial Times, which first reported the plan, the timing has not yet been decided, but the visit would likely not coincide with the G20 summit in Manchester next November, to which Zelensky has also been invited.

Government officials told the FT the visit is not yet finalised but is expected to take place. The King would serve as host, and Zelensky would likely make an address to Parliament similar to the one he delivered to hundreds of MPs, peers and officials in 2023.

The ceremony itself is set to break with tradition. A state visit is usually a grand affair involving a lavish banquet, but the Financial Times reports the occasion would likely be recast so it is more appropriate for Zelensky's status as a wartime leader.

Zelensky is already a familiar figure in Britain: he has visited the UK some 13 times since the start of the war, most recently to meet Andy Burnham in Downing Street, where he received a guard of honour.

He previously met Sir Keir Starmer when Starmer was prime minister, and he has met the King, who would formally host a state visit.

The plan carries real diplomatic risk at a delicate moment. The Independent reports the move could raise tensions with US President Donald Trump, who has been critical of Zelensky in recent weeks and appears to have grown closer to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who started the war.

Hosting a full state visit for a leader the American president has openly criticised would signal that Britain intends to keep Ukraine at the centre of its diplomacy regardless of shifts in Washington.

Officials stress that nothing is locked in yet. The timing remains undecided, the Financial Times says, and the expected 2027 visit is understood to be planned so it does not clash with the G20 summit in Manchester in November, which Zelensky is also due to attend.

In practice, expect the two events to reinforce one another: a G20 appearance showing Ukraine at the diplomatic table, followed by a state visit whose ritual — a Parliament address, a royal host, a banquet adapted to wartime restraint — frames continued Western support.

Whether the visit survives contact with shifting US-Russia dynamics remains the open question officials have not yet answered.