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Great Britain and France must lead a desperate European attempt to save the hopes of peace in Ukraine, after last week’s explosive meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Sir Keir Starmer, British Prime Minister, said after a summit in London that Europe would intervene as intermediaries so that Zelenskyy tries to “put an end to fights” and persuade Trump to provide American coverage for European troops deployed to ensure any cease-fire.
“The United Kingdom is ready to support this with boots on the ground and airplanes with others,” he said a press conference on Sunday after a summit in London of 19 international leaders. Europe “must make the big dupbage” but “the effort must have support in strong United States,” he added.
But many countries remain reluctant to undertake to send troops to Ukraine as part of a mission led by the United Kingdom and France. Germany, Spain and Poland are among those who have so far not proposed to join “a coalition of the will”.
Starmer said that “a number of countries said today that they wanted to be one of the plans we are developing” but have refused to appoint them.
He has urged more countries to join a peacekeeping effort to persuade Trump that Europe is serious. “I am very convinced that less than some are advancing, we will remain in the same position in which we are,” he said. “It’s not a while for more discussions. It’s time to act, intensify and direct. »»
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, insisted that the EU would intensify. She said that Ukraine must be transformed into “a steel porcupine that is indigestible for potential invaders”.
Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron direct European attempts to persuade Trump to provide an American security guarantee for any peace stabilization force, but have so far failed.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who also has solid relations with Trump, is considered in European capitals as another key player.
The three leaders plan to agree on a plan for peace with Zelenskyy, then present it to the White House, in order to bypass the toxic relationship that developed between the Ukrainian president and Trump.
“We have agreed that the United Kingdom, France and others will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop fighting, then discuss these plans with the United States,” said Starmer.
Starmer’s allies insist that Zelenskyy is not sidelined and the British Prime Minister said that it would belong to kyiv and Moscow to decide where the “line” for any ceasefire was traced. But Europe would take the initiative to discuss future security guarantees with Trump.
Trump insisted that the presence of American companies and workers in Ukraine – operating an agreement proposed to share the product of the mineral wealth of Ukraine – would be sufficient to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching another attack on his neighbor.
But an ally of Starmer said that an American military stay would still be necessary: ”If the United States has an economic participation, this will of course increase its interest in what will then happen. But we do not see it as a replacement. »»
Starmer said that the United Kingdom and the United States teams discussed the ways in which Trump could help conclude any peace agreement, although the American president has always indicated that he considers this to be a responsibility of the European nations.
The British Prime Minister said, however, that he would not “do this road” unless he thought there could be a “positive result”, in particular by winning Trump’s support. He added: “I do not accept that the United States is an unreliable ally.”
Mark Rutte, NATO secretary general, told journalists leaving the summit when he was asked if the United States would contribute to security guarantees that “debate is underway”.
The participants of the London Summit on Sunday included the outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, as well as Von Der Leyen and Rutte. Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also attended.
Starmer, Macron and Meloni have all clearly shown that even if Europe had to do more to defend itself, ultimately, the path of peace in Ukraine was to cross the White House.
“If there are Europeans who think we can do it by ourselves, they are clearly wrong,” said a starmer ally.
The summit, in Lancaster House in central London, was also an opportunity for leaders to show his support for Zelenskyy after the brutal verbal attack against him by Trump and US vice-president JD Vance on Friday.
Zelenskyy was embraced by Starmer on the Downing Street steps on Saturday and Sunday, he left the helicopter summit to meet King Charles during his retirement from the country in Sandringham House.
Meanwhile, Starmer has announced that 1.6 billion pounds sterling of British export guarantees would be provided to provide more than 5,000 air defense missiles for Ukraine in Belfast.
