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Prime minister prepared to commit British troops for peacekeeping mission
Sir Keir Starmer will push a reluctant Donald Trump to provide a US „backstop“ to prevent Vladimir Putin launching a fresh assault on Ukraine after any peace deal.
The UK prime minister is prepared to commit British troops to a peacekeeping mission but believes that US promises are vital to „deter Putin from coming again“.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Washington to sign a deal on rare earth minerals on Friday.
The US will get “a lot of money” back from Ukraine under the deal, Donald Trump says but refuses to provide minimal security guarantees to Kyiv in return.
“I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much,” the US president told reporters, “we’re going to have Europe do that.”
Mr Zelensky says a framework economic deal with the US is ready but security guarantees Kyiv views as vital remain to be decided.
Russia earlier contradicted Mr Trump by saying it strongly opposed European peacekeeping forces in Ukraine, with foreign minister Sergei Lavrov claiming that it was a “deceit aimed at fuelling the conflict”.
•British prime minister Keir Starmer will visit the White House today to try to convince president Donald Trump that a lasting peace in Ukraine will endure only if Kyiv and European leaders are at the table as negotiations move forward with Moscow.
•Diplomats from Russia and the United States will meet in Istanbul today to discuss the operation of their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington.
The meeting follows Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia last week that marked an extraordinary shift in US foreign policy under president Donald Trump and a clear departure from US-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine.
At the talks, Moscow and Washington agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. That includes restoring the staffing at embassies, which in recent years were hit hard by mutual expulsions of large numbers of diplomats and other restrictions.
The embassy official said Ukraine will not be on the agenda.
British prime minister Keir Starmer will on Sunday host leaders of Italy, Germany, Poland and other allies – possibly including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky – to discuss their response to Donald Trump’s push for peace in Ukraine.
The US president has forced a radical rethink of European security, blindsiding leaders by telling them they must raise defence spending and take responsibility for their own security.
Sunday’s meeting will come shortly after Mr Starmer returns from crunch talks with Mr Trump today in Washington, where the British leader hopes his pledge to increase the defence budget will help preserve close ties between the two allies.
„I accept that European allies, the UK included, must do more and that means on capability, coordination and spend,“ Mr Starmer told reporters on his way to Washington.
„The coordination bit shouldn’t be overlooked. I was very struck by the lessons we have to learn from Ukraine about the way in which we need to coordinate better in terms of capability and supporting Ukraine.“
Britain can no longer rely on the US for its defence or that of Europe, former Tory leader Michael Howard has warned, as he welcomed a promised hike in UK military spending.
The Conservative peer highlighted the „stark truth“ after America joined with Russia, North Korea and Iran at the United Nations in New York to vote against a European-backed resolution which condemned Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine and demanded an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the country.
Lord Howard of Lympne said the „comfortable world“ of just a few weeks ago had gone and „harsh realities“ now had to be faced.
Meanwhile, Conservative former prime minister Theresa May has urged Sir Keir Starmer, at his meeting with Donald Trump in Washington, to stress to the US president that Russia is the aggressor in Ukraine and that „the defence of Europe benefits the defence of America“.
The Tory peer’s comments came after Mr Trump branded Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky a „dictator“, suggested Kyiv had started the war and ended Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s three-year diplomatic isolation by the US.
Ahead of face-to-face talks with the US leader, the prime minister announced spending on defence will rise from its current 2.3 per cent share of the economy to 2.5 per cent in 2027.
Sir Keir Starmer will push a reluctant Donald Trump to provide a US “backstop” to prevent Vladimir Putin launching a fresh assault on Ukraine after any peace deal.
The US President said he would not provide security guarantees “beyond very much”, insisting it was for Europeans to protect Ukraine.
Sir Keir is prepared to commit British troops to a peacekeeping mission but believes that US promises are vital to “deter Putin from coming again”.
Ahead of his talks at the White House on Thursday, Sir Keir said Mr Trump can be trusted and understands that Russian President Mr Putin started the war in Ukraine.
Report:
Volodymyr Zelensky will visit the White House on Friday to sign a minerals deal, Donald Trump said, though international agreement on possible peace talks remains far less clear.
The deal, under which Kyiv would hand some revenue from rare earth deposits in Ukraine to a fund jointly controlled by Washington, is central to President Zelensky’s attempts to win strong support as he seeks a quick end to Russia‚s war.
Mr Trump hailed it as “a very big agreement” at the start of the first cabinet meeting of his second term, attended by unelected billionaire Elon Musk.
More in this report from Alastair Jamieson:
Keir Starmer has made it clear he intends to stand up to Donald Trump over Ukraine as he jets over to Washington DC for one of the most consequential meetings ever between a US president and British prime minister.
Speaking to journalists on the flight over the Atlantic, Sir Keir insisted that Russia’s Vladimir Putin has to be viewed as the aggressor.
He will make clear that there can be no negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine, and will push for Europe to play a greater part in global defence.
Report:
Diplomats from Russia and the United States will meet in Istanbul on Thursday to discuss the operation of their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said yesterday.
The meeting follows Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia last week that marked an extraordinary shift in US foreign policy under president Donald Trump and a clear departure from US-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine.
At the talks, Moscow and Washington agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. That includes restoring the staffing at embassies, which in recent years were hit hard by mutual expulsions of large numbers of diplomats and other restrictions.
A US Embassy official in Ankara confirmed that US and Russian delegations will hold talks in Istanbul today on issues affecting the operation of respective diplomatic missions.
The embassy official said Ukraine will not be on the agenda.
Kyiv is not going to discuss security guarantees in its minerals deal with Washington, president Volodymyr Zelensky said. They will be discussed in future rounds of negotiations with the US and other allies, he told journalists on Wednesday.
The deal, finalised on 25 February, aims to create a fund to which Ukraine will contribute 50 per cent of the proceeds from future monetisation of state-owned minerals, including oil, gas and logistics infrastructure.
In exchange, the agreement states that the US government „supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace“.
„I asked for an understanding that all this is part of the future security guarantees of Ukraine,“ Mr Zelensky said of the deal, adding that he wanted „at least a sentence about security guarantees for Ukraine to appear in the agreement — and it did appear.”
The US president said Europe, rather than the US, would be mainly responsible for providing security guarantees to Ukraine.
„I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond very much — we’re going to have Europe do that because we’re talking about Europe is their nextdoor neighbor,“ Mr Trump said.
The United States abstained from signing a statement by members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) condemning Russian aggression.
A total of 45 members, including Western allies and Ukraine, agreed to the WTO statement on 26 February.“The decision not to co-sponsor was made in keeping with our position in the United Nations Security Council and UN General Assembly earlier this week“, a US official told Reuters after the decision.
The statement, proposed during Ukraine’s Trade Policy Review, emphasised members‘ concerns surrounding the „consequences of (the war’s) destruction for Ukraine and for global trade,“ while explicitly naming Russia as the aggressor.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas will not meet with US secretary of state Marco Rubio during her trip to Washington this week, “due to scheduling issues”, her office has said.
Ms Kallas said on Monday that she would meet Mr Rubio during her trip this week to discuss efforts by Donald Trump’s new administration to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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Ukraine-Russia war latest: Starmer warns Putin could reinvade Ukraine unless US provides security guarantees – The Independent
