Starmer has invited more than a dozen European leaders to the summit to “drive forward” action to strengthen Ukraine’s position with military support, following last week’s meetings with Trump at the White House by Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Macron, Germany’s Olaf Scholz, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen, Nato’s Mark Rutte and the European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen will attend the London summit, which echoes the ad hoc format of Macron’s own Paris gathering on 17 February. Zelensky is also due in Brussels next Thursday at an emergency EU summit to discuss military aid for Ukraine and steps to boost defence spending.
How UK's 'risky' peacekeeping mission in Ukraine would work without US
Read More“We’ve never been in a security crisis like this, where the US is potentially an obstacle to any solution. And yet we need to respond in a fast and co-ordinated way, or else we’ll be left behind.”
Officials say American engagement is vital: only the US has the resources and logistical capabilities to provide surveillance, intelligence, war planes and other cover against a ceasefire breach by Moscow. While European countries can scrape together a peacekeeping force backed by fighter jets, they do not have the command and control needed to organise and oversee complex air operations over Ukraine.
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Read MoreThe Ukraine peace deal is also tied to broader questions over raising overall defence budgets: Trump has complained voraciously about the low spending of Nato’s European members and has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the alliance.
Starmer last week committed the UK to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2027, Germany’s likely next chancellor Friedrich Merz is also keen to raise the budget, and the EU is currently looking at a new debt mechanism to provide hundreds of billions of pounds to funding defence.
The London summit is expected to touch on this too: the EU and UK have been negotiating a security pact since last summer, and Starmer is keen to ensure that Britain is included in any future EU joint procurement arrangements for weaponry and arms systems.
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