Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Tony Radakin will co-chair a meeting of European defence chiefs in Paris on Tuesday, with Defence Secretary John Healey travelling to the French capital for talks with the continent’s major defence powers on Wednesday.
The week is gearing up to be significant for diplomacy aimed at ending Russia’s war against Ukraine, with Ukrainian officials due to begin talks with the US in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday on achieving peace.
A Whitehall source told The i Paper: “Tuesday is a big day all round. You’ve obviously got the talks in Riyadh as well. It’s the next phase of this push for peace.”
The aim of the talks will be to put flesh on the bones of Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron’s plan for allies of Ukraine to deploy troops to the country to deter future Russian aggression if a peace deal is signed.
The Whitehall source said: “There’s a broad spectrum of people interested [in the Coalition of the Willing], but it’s for them to say when they want to become public about that.
After the meeting of the defence chiefs, Healey will hold talks on Wednesday with the defence ministers of Europe four other main military powers – France, Germany, Italy and Poland.
The Whitehall source said European nations were responding to signals from the US that it wanted peace negotiations to move quickly, and that this week’s talks were a “positive show of continued momentum”.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Healey will report to his European counterparts on the talks he had last week in Washington DC with the US Defence Secretary, Peter Hegseth.
The Whitehall source said the US was genuinely interested in what Europe could offer to help preserve peace: “It’s clear that the US do want to see a concrete, tangible offer on the table.”
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Defence chiefs face “big day” as they plot Coalition of the Willing peace deal )
Also on site :