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Britain and France will lead a desperate European effort to save the hopes of peace in Ukraine, following last week’s explosive meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said after a London Summit that Europe would enter as a mediator for Zelenskyy to try to “stop fighting” and persuade Trump to provide American cover for European troops to secure any ceasefire.
“The United Kingdom is ready to support this with boots on the ground and planes in the air along with others,” he told a press conference on Sunday after a London summit of 19 international leaders. Europe “has to make the rise”, but “the effort must have strong support in the US,” he added.
But many countries remain ready to engage in sending troops to Ukraine as part of a UK -led mission and France. Germany, Spain and Poland are among those that have so far not offered to join “a coalition of will”.
Starmer said “a number of countries have shown today that they want to be part of the plans we are developing” but refused to name them.
He urged countries more to join a peacekeeping attempt to convince Trump that Europe is serious. “I feel very tightly that if some move forward, we will stay in the same position where we are,” he said. “This is not a moment for more conversations. It’s a time to act, to grow and lead.”
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, insisted the EU would grow. She said Ukraine should be transformed into “a porcupine steel that is impenetrable to potential invaders”.
Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are leading European efforts to persuade Trump to provide a guarantee of US security for any peace stabilization force, but have so far been unsuccessful.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who also has strong relations with Trump, is seen in European capitals as another key player.
All three leaders plan to agree on a peace plan with Zelenskyy and then present it to the White House in an attempt to bypass the toxic relations that has developed between the president of Ukraine and Trump.
“We have agreed that the United Kingdom, France and others will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop fighting and then discuss those plans with SH.BA,” Starmer said.
Starmer’s allies insist that Zelenskyy is not being avoided and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said it would be for Kyiv and Moscow to decide where the “line” was drawn for any ceasefire. But Europe would take the lead to discuss future security guarantees with Trump.
Trump has insisted that the presence of US companies and workers in Ukraine – using a proposed agreement to share the income of Ukraine’s mineral wealth – would be enough to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching another attack on his neighbor.
But a Starmer ally said a US military background would still be necessary: ”If the US has an economic action, it will certainly increase their interest in what happens next. But we do not see it as a replacement.”
Starmer said teams in the UK and the US were discussing the ways Trump could help to secure any peace agreement, though the US president has always made it clear that he sees it as the responsibility of European nations.
The British prime minister said, however, that he would not take “this step down this road” unless he thought there could be a “positive result”, including winning Trump’s support. He added: “I do not admit that SH.BA is an unreliable ally.”
Mark Rutte, NATO Secretary General, told reporters as he left the Summit when asked if the US would contribute to security guarantees that “the debate is continuing”.
Attendees at Sunday’s Summit in London included outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, as well as von der Leyen and Rutte. Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also participated.
Starmer, Macron and Meloni everyone made it clear that while Europe had to do more to protect itself, after all the road to peace in Ukraine had to cross the White House.
“If there is any European who thinks we can do it ourselves, they are clearly wrong,” said a Starmer ally.
The Summit, at Lancaster House in Central London, was also an opportunity for leaders to show support to Zelenskyy following the brutal verbal attack on him by Trump and US Vice President JD Vance on Friday.
Zelenskyy was hugged by Starmer in the steps of Street Downing on Saturday and Sunday he left the helicopter summit to meet King Charles in his place attracting the Sandringham house.
Meanwhile, Starmer announced that 1.6 billion British export guarantees would be provided to supply more than 5,000 air protection missiles for Ukraine, to be made in Belfast.
