2nd Man Charged over Fires at Properties Linked to UK PM

19 May 2025, United Kingdom, London: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gestures during a reception for UK and EU businesses in Downing Street. Photo: Hannah Mckay/PA Wire/dpa
19 May 2025, United Kingdom, London: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gestures during a reception for UK and EU businesses in Downing Street. Photo: Hannah Mckay/PA Wire/dpa
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2nd Man Charged over Fires at Properties Linked to UK PM

19 May 2025, United Kingdom, London: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gestures during a reception for UK and EU businesses in Downing Street. Photo: Hannah Mckay/PA Wire/dpa
19 May 2025, United Kingdom, London: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer gestures during a reception for UK and EU businesses in Downing Street. Photo: Hannah Mckay/PA Wire/dpa

British police said a Romanian national was charged with arson offences on Tuesday, the second man to be charged in an investigation into a series of fires at properties linked to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Police were called to a blaze at a property belonging to Starmer in north London earlier in May. No one was injured, but the entrance to the home was damaged.

Two further fires on separate days, targeting a nearby flat and a car, both linked to the prime minister, are also part of the investigation.

A 21-year-old Ukrainian, Roman Lavrynovych, was charged over the fires last week.

Police said the Romanian national, 26-year-old Stanislav Carpiuc, will appear in a London court later on Tuesday charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. He had been arrested at London's Luton Airport on Saturday.

Police also arrested a third man in connection with the fires on Monday. He remains in police custody, Reuters reported.

Counter-terrorism police have led the investigation given the prime minister's involvement.

Starmer, who has lived at his official 10 Downing Street residence in central London since becoming prime minister last July, has called the incidents "an attack on all of us, on our democracy and the values we stand for.”



Zelenskiy Says Concessions Will Not Persuade Russia to Stop Fighting 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a press briefing following phone calls with US President Donald Trump, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 19, 2025. (Reuters) 
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a press briefing following phone calls with US President Donald Trump, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 19, 2025. (Reuters) 
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Zelenskiy Says Concessions Will Not Persuade Russia to Stop Fighting 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a press briefing following phone calls with US President Donald Trump, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 19, 2025. (Reuters) 
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a press briefing following phone calls with US President Donald Trump, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 19, 2025. (Reuters) 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that concessions to Russia would not persuade it to stop fighting in Ukraine and that there was need to ramp up pressure on the Kremlin.

"Russia is dragging out the war, and therefore it deserves stronger global pressure. Russia refuses to stop the killings, and therefore must not receive any rewards or benefits," he wrote on X.

"And this is not just a moral position – it is a rational one. Concessions do not persuade a killer."

Zelenskiy made the remarks days before US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are due to meet in Alaska.