How Starmer and Trump differ on Ukraine policy ...Middle East

Britain and its European allies will continue to supply arms to Ukraine even as peace talks are underway, Downing Street has said.

Military chiefs from around 30 countries will meet in the UK on Thursday to plan for an international peacekeeping force, as a partial ceasefire was agreed between Kyiv and Moscow on Wednesday afternoon.

But No10 made clear, for as long as the conflict continued without a permanent peace settlement, the UK was planning for “all eventual scenarios” including continuing to send military equipment to Ukraine.

Keir Starmer’s official spokesman also criticised Vladimir Putin for failing to agree to an immediate unconditional 30-day ceasefire, in the Russian president’s lengthy phone call with Donald Trump on Tuesday.

The spokesman said: “We will always continue to support Ukraine militarily for as long as it takes to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position, both now and in the event of a peace deal in the future.

“We are preparing for all eventual scenarios. We are continuing to support Ukraine militarily, and will continue to do so, but we are also planning for the event of a peace deal and what would be needed to ensure that any peace deal is secure and lasting.”

While there is nothing new in the UK’s steadfast support for Ukraine – and tough rhetoric towards Russia – the latest remarks underline the difference in approach between the Starmer government and the Trump administration towards the conflict.

As the US president has tried to get Putin to come to the negotiating table – and even discussed economic deals and ice hockey with the Russian leader – the UK strategy has been to build support for Starmer’s “coalition of the willing” which is as much about supporting Ukraine as it is trying to put together a peacekeeping force.

However, insiders said this was not about the UK diverging from the US over the delicate diplomacy to bring the three-year conflict to an end, but acting, as Starmer has previously put it, as the “bridge” between Europe and America.

Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky must be able to count on a strong, united alliance of European Nato countries as a long-lasting bulwark against Moscow, a source said, but this did not mean clashing with Trump over tactics.

The test of this strategy was never more acute at the end of February, when, 24 hours after Starmer charmed Trump in the Oval Office with an offer from the King of a second state visit, the US president and Zelensky had a shouting match in the same room.

Yet since that clash, Starmer has held talks by phone with Trump on four occasions, while at the same time building up support for the coalition of the willing.

Starmer’s spokesman said on Wednesday that Ukraine had Britain’s “unwavering support”.

In a sign of the delicate balancing act the UK is currently trying to perform, the spokesman added: “We obviously welcome President Trump’s efforts to secure a ceasefire in this space, but it is also disappointing that Putin has not agreed to a full-on, immediate ceasefire without conditions, as Ukraine has done.”

Zelensky agreed to the partial ceasefire, covering energy and infrastructure targets, in a call with Trump on Wednesday afternoon.

The limited ceasefire had been proposed during the call between Trump and Putin on Tuesday.

The effort to build up European military support for Ukraine was underscored in talks between Foreign Secretary David Lammy and EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday.

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Trump and Putin’s call showed peace in Ukraine is still a long way off

Kallas also had talks with Defence Secretary John Healey on Tuesday. Healey said after the meeting: “This is a time when the demands of the moment mean European partners must come together, recognising Nato as a cornerstone of European security, but we need to do more.

“The European Commission and European Union are stepping up just as we are in the UK. We must step up together on European security, defence spending and on reinforcing our industrial bases.”

Healey said UK and European defence industries “needed to innovate at a wartime pace”.

He added: “On Ukraine now is almost the time when we must maintain our strong support for Ukraine, we must not jeopardise the peace by forgetting about the war, and we will together reinforce our efforts to secure that peace.”

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