Keir Starmer is joining his fellow European leaders for talks in Paris as they scramble to respond to Donald Trump’s dramatic intervention in the war in Ukraine.
The US government has explicitly ruled out involving Europe in peace talks – sparking concerns that even Ukraine itself may be left out in the cold.
Instead, Trump invited Russia to talks in Saudi Arabia with the aim of bringing the conflict to an end.
Vladimir Putin’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and aide Yuri Ushakov will meet their US counterparts in the Middle East tomorrow, the Kremlin announced this morning.
There is confusion over whether Kyiv will be involved in that meeting, with a ‘senior Ukrainian government source’ telling BBC News no invitation has been sent while Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy to Ukraine, said otherwise.
Last week, before any negotiations had begun, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth declared a return to Ukraine’s borders before Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea is ‘an unrealistic objective’.
He also insisted ‘any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops’ – though not from the US.
Sir Keir responded last night by announcing he would be willing to put British troops on the ground in eastern Europe.
This move was dismissed as ‘staggering hypocrisy’ by Keir Giles, a Russia expert at foreign policy think tank Chatham House, due to the government’s hesitation to place a timeline on increasing defence spending.
He told Metro: ‘Talking about the heavy responsibility of putting troops in harm’s way when he has decided that UK troops should not be funded to be fully equipped. It’s strange.
‘We’ll see today whether Starmer will actually follow through on what he is promising, or whether once again we will have betrayed promises, weasel words, and shifting the blame.’
A YouGov poll last month found 58% of Brits said they would back UK soldiers being stationed in Ukraine as peacekeepers as part of a deal to end the conflict.
Former head of the British Army Lord Richard Dannatt said he thought the PM was ‘doing the right thing’ – before adding that ‘doing the right thing comes at a price’.
He told BBC Breakfast: ‘Frankly, we haven’t got the numbers and we haven’t got the equipment to put a large force onto the ground for an extended period of time at the present moment.
‘Now, if Keir Starmer wants to do that, that’s fine. The British Army will always stand up to the plate, but here we go again.
‘We’ve got to have the right number of people with the right equipment and the right training, and start to fund that now.’
Mr Giles said Europe’s leaders will be discussing an issue they have ‘ignored for so long that it’s turned into an emergency’.
He added: ‘We are seeing European leaders scrambling to adjust to the reality that has been thrust in their faces after they disregarded it for years.’
Today’s talks at the Elysée Palace were hastily organised by French President Emmanuel Macron following a week that appears to have reshaped the postwar transatlantic relationship.
Speeches and announcements from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and President Trump made clear the US plans to heavily scale down its commitment to European security.
Vance stunned attendees at the Munich Security Conference on Friday when he said he is more concerned about ‘the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values’ than he was about threats from Russia or China.
He cited a number of misleading claims about supposed attacks on free speech across the continent – including a false claim that Scots were warned not to pray in their own home if they live in an abortion buffer zone.
Meanwhile, Trump has launched an effort to free Russia from the pariah status it has endured since its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
His 90-minute phone call with Putin last Wednesday was the first direct interaction between a US and Russian leader in more than three years.
On Thursday, the president said he would love Russia to return to the G7 – the Group of Seven major democracies from which the country was expelled following its invasion of Crimea.
Trump said at the White House: ‘I think it was a mistake to throw them out. Look, it’s not a question of liking Russia or not liking Russia. It was the G8.’
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