The UK and France are working together on a “plan to stop the fighting” – including the deployment of British troops and fighter jets – which will be agreed with the Ukrainian government before being presented to the US, the Prime Minister said.
But at the same time Peter Mandelson, Britain’s ambassador to Washington, urged Zelensky to sign a mineral deal with Trump – which remained unsigned after his ejection from the White House on Friday – and offer a ceasefire even if Russia does not.
Starmer told the BBC on Sunday: “We’ve now agreed that the United Kingdom, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting and then we’ll discuss that plan with the United States.”
Speaking at the conclusion of a summit with European allies and Canada in London, Starmer promised to build a “coalition of the willing” and added: “Those willing will intensify planning now with real urgency.
He added that any plan would still need an ultimate backstop from America.
Starmer dismissed the suggestion that the US was an “unreliable ally”, but said he was trying to apply “momentum” to the peace efforts. He added: “I spoke to President Trump last night. I’m not going to go through the details of that conversation, but I would not be taking this step down this road if I didn’t think that it was something that would yield a positive outcome.”
He also announced that the UK would underwrite the £1.6bn purchase by Ukraine of 5,000 missiles which will be made in Belfast and sent to the front line.
King Charles III meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk. Joe Giddens/PA WiresHe added: “Obviously, there is no deal yet, there is no ceasefire yet, but we have to prepare for that moment and making sure that European countries are willing to help out with the security guarantees. And here I really saw quite a number of countries, at this table, of course the initiative being taken by the United Kingdom and France, but others wanting to help, I think that’s important.”
Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, promised to “present a comprehensive plan to rearm Europe” at a summit in Brussels this week.
Trump state visit ‘will go ahead’
The UK Government is proceeding with plans for a second state visit by Donald Trump despite growing calls for the event to be scrapped.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer used his recent meeting with Trump in the White House to hand-deliver a letter from King Charles III inviting the US President for a second state visit.
The monarch proposed that the pair meet in Scotland, where Trump has ancestral ties, at either Dumfries House or Balmoral Castle to discuss the logistics of the trip.
The invitation is a significant break from tradition, as previous US Presidents have not been invited for a second state visit during their second term and usually only return for informal meetings.
Trump previously visited the UK on a state visit in 2019, hosted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Starmer hit back at calls for the visit to be cancelled, claiming his focus was on “bridge-building” and establishing “what are the relationships that I can mend and take forward to take us to lasting peace in Europe”.
“I’ve seen people ramping up the rhetoric and taking to Twitter and saying what they would do – good for them, I’m not that interested in that,” he told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.
The SNP has led calls for the visit to be called off, with the party’s leader John Swinney also telling the BBC that it could not go ahead if Trump was “not a steadfast ally of ours in protecting the future of Ukraine”.
Calls to cancel the trip have also come from other quarters, with shadow minister Alicia Kearns writing on X: “State visits should be conferred to the most honourable of allies, not to curry favour.”
Macron is the other leader of a major country who has already committed to sending troops to enforce a future peace deal if needed, while the position of some others is unclear. The London meeting was attended by Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany who lost his bid for re-election last weekend but has not yet been formally replaced. Friedrich Merz, who is almost certain to take over, has not set out a detailed position on the next steps for Ukraine.
Keir Starmer hosted a summit of 18 world leaders, to discuss peace in Ukraine Photographer: JUSTIN TALLIS Provider: POOL/AFP via
Speaking on US television on the same day, Mandelson urged Zelensky to commit to a ceasefire even before Vladimir Putin in an attempt to bounce the Russian leader into action.
Mandelson told the ABC network that a “very radical reset” was needed, adding: “The reset has to consist of the United States and Ukraine getting back on the same page, and President Zelensky giving his unequivocal backing to the initiative that President Trump is taking, to end the war and to bring a just and lasting peace to Ukraine.
He said that “the first thing that President Zelensky can do is to make clear his commitment to the initiative that President Trump is taking” and insisted that Ukraine would benefit from striking a deal for the US to exploit its minerals reserves.
Mandelson added: “It will also give the United States a stake in Ukraine’s future. It will mean that US commercial interest, US individual citizens will be on the ground there and that will be an even greater, added incentive for the US to protect Ukraine in future, make sure that war does not ensue again.”
Nato concerns after Musk weighs in
Concerns are growing over the future of Nato after Elon Musk, a close ally of Donald Trump, called for the US to leave the defence alliance.
His comments came amid growing tensions between the US and Europe after Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy publicly clashed in the White House in recent days.
Trump accused Zelenskyy of “gambling with World War III”, and the meeting ended without the pair striking a deal to exchange mineral rights for further US military support.
The US President has previously called for Nato allies to boost their defence spending, claiming that Europe has become too heavily reliant on US support.
In the wake of the clash, Musk, who has a senior role in Trump’s administration, reposted a message on X from Gunther Eagleman, a political commentator with 1.3 million followers, which called for the US to leave the UN and Nato. He added the comment: “I agree”.
But Starmer has insisted his “driving purpose” is to repair the rift in the Nato alliance through his meeting of world leaders on Sunday.
Commenting on the rift between Trump and Zelensky, Starmer said: “The important thing is how to react to that. There are a number of different routes people could go down. One is to ramp up the rhetoric as to how outraged we all are or not.”
He told the BBC: “The other is to do what I did, which is roll up my sleeves, pick up the phone, talk to President Trump, talk to President Zelensky, then invite President Zelensky for an extensive meeting yesterday, a warm welcome, and then further pick up the phone to President Macron and President Trump afterwards.
“My driving purpose has been to bridge this, if you like, and get us back to the central focus.”
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