The Prime Minister will urge Donald Trump to commit US military power as a “backstop” to any future peace deal ending the war in Ukraine when he visits the White House next month.
A UK Government source said: “The guarantee is so that the Russians do have that deterrent effect. This is the deal that we think is there and this is what we want to talk about in Washington next week.
European governments are currently split on whether to send troops to protect Kyiv against the threat of a fresh invasion by Russia.
But Russia’s foreign minister warned following talks with the Trump administration in Saudi Arabia that the Kremlin could not accept Western troops policing a deal in Ukraine.
His comments put Russia starkly at odds with the UK on how a peace agreement would be enforced – at the same time as Starmer faces the challenge of persuading the US President not to abandon the protection of Ukraine altogether.
He said: “We need a security guarantee for Ukraine, in Ukraine, that is capable of delivering what President Trump has pledged and says he wants, which is a durable peace that requires an end to the Russian attack and no repeat of that in the future.
H.R. McMaster, a former US Army general who was national security adviser during Trump’s first term in office, predicted this week that American troops would end up protecting Ukraine following any peace deal.
“So I can see the US being like, outside-in security, and if Nato forces came under duress, an attack on one is an attack on all and I think the United States could probably destroy every single Russian position outside of Russia in the period of maybe half a day, and I think Russia knows that.”
One Nato official said: “We really should have been talking about this last year or earlier, but better late than never. It will have to be a coalition of the willing and it should be led by Britain or France.”
The UK and France are most enthusiastic about establishing a peacekeeping force in Ukraine (Photo: Umit Donmez /Anadolu via Getty)Norway, Canada, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Finland, Romania, Sweden and Belgium are expected to attend and may involve some officials appearing via video-link.
Ukraine 'destroys rare £107m Russian air defence system' in dramatic video
Read MoreGermany’s leader Olaf Scholz criticised leaders who were already talking publicly about sending their troops to Ukraine, but he is widely expected to lose office at the upcoming elections.
However, Whitehall insiders are optimistic that European allies will become bolder in their approach once the stance of the Trump administration becomes clear as negotiations with the Kremlin progress.
The Defence Secretary promised to “rearm Britain” and set out plans to save £10bn from the defence budget by modernising its equipment programme. He added: “We know as European nations, we need to step up on European security, on defence spending, and on Ukraine.”
He told The i Paper: “We have failed Ukraine. We’ve been the best supporting them, ahead of all the rest, including America, but we haven’t had the wherewithal to give them everything they need, because we ourselves have not spent the money on building up our military.”
Sir Iain added: “The reason that this war has gone on for three years is because, including America, nobody could make their mind up whether they wanted Ukraine to actually win. If they’re going to win this war, and I still think they can – I was out there quite recently, I could see their capability – they need to outgun the Russians. They don’t have the ammunition, they don’t have the weapons.”
Analysis: What the rest of Europe is saying
GermanyGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the talk was “irritating” and “an incomprehensible debate at the wrong time and about the wrong topic”. Scholz, who has long been cautious about sending soldiers and arms to Ukraine, faces elections on Sunday. His Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said last month that Germany may consider contributing forces to such a mission. Friedrich Merz, the conservative leader likely to become chancellor after the elections, has been hawkish about Ukraine but has not explicitly endorsed deploying German peacekeepers.
ItalyItalian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she told fellow leaders that the idea of sending European troops to Ukraine was “the most complex and least likely to be effective” of various options.
DenmarkDanish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was “open to discussing many different things”, such as troop deployments. “But I would also like to emphasise that there are really, really many things that need to be clarified before we reach this situation.”
SpainSpain was most reticent. “Nobody is currently considering sending troops to Ukraine,” José Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, said.
PolandPolish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Warsaw was not prepared to send troops, but mainly because he is defending his own border (with Belarus, but effectively a Putin client state).
EstoniaSo far, only the Baltic states have signalled support for the idea, as long as it is a broader mission with other allies. Estonia’s Defense Minister Hanno Pevklur said last month that European allies are “in a very early stage” of developing the plan to deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
NetherlandsThe Dutch have already started arguing about it. Netherlands Prime Minister Dick Schoof, who was in Paris, said it was “unwise” not to discuss participation in a possible military force in Ukraine. Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right PVV, the largest government coalition party, said he was opposed.
NorwayNorway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre also said that “the time had not come” to discuss sending Norwegian soldiers to Ukraine.
SwedenSwedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer said did “not rule out” the sending of peacekeeping soldiers to Ukraine.
By Leo Cendrowicz
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( UK on collision course with Russia over peacekeeping troops in Ukraine )
Also on site :