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Sir Keir Starmer has said that the “coalition of the willing” is working to establish a military plan so it can “react straightaway” to defend any peace deal that Ukraine secures with Russia.
The UK prime minister said senior armed forces figures from around 30 nations involved in the coalition to support Kyiv had gathered on Thursday to pivot from “political concept to military plans”.
The meeting followed a call of political leaders convened by London last weekend, and an initial meeting of chiefs of defence staff in Paris last week.
Speaking at the UK armed forces headquarters at Northwood, Hertfordshire, Starmer said that in the wake of “important talks” between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, “a timetable now is coming into focus” for a potential ceasefire.
Britain and EU allies have been putting on a show of unity in their planning for a potential UK-French-led “reassurance force” based in Ukraine after a ceasefire.
But relations were dented earlier this week when the European Commission revealed it would exclude British arms companies from a new €150bn defence spending fund until London and Brussels agreed a fresh security pact.
Asked about the move on Thursday, Starmer said “there’s scope for more joint work” between Britain and the EU on defence co-ordination.
“I’m very pleased that the EU is signalling their intent to spend so much on defence. I’ve been making the argument, as others have, that all of us in Europe have to step up, not just in relation to Ukraine, but more generally in our own collective self-defence. That does mean more spend, more capability, more co-ordination,” he said.
He refused to be drawn on whether he supported Trump’s proposal to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Washington to take control over Ukraine’s power plants, a deal the White House argued would offer the “best protection” for the country’s energy infrastructure.
“That’s a matter for the US and Ukraine to discuss,” Starmer said, but added: “We’re clear that Ukraine must be secure and sovereign, and therefore able to make decisions on behalf of the Ukrainian people, and that if there’s a deal, it has to be defended”.
In an apparent reference to the failed Minsk accords from 2014 and 2015, under which Russia agreed to ceasefires in Ukraine before launching its full-scale invasion of the country in 2022, Starmer said: “There have been deals in the past that haven’t had security arrangements and Putin has taken no notice of them.”
He added: “We know from history what the risk is here, which is why we’re working with allies to ensure that the political alignment and momentum that we’ve built up in recent weeks — which is a good thing to have so many countries aligned — is now turned into military planning, military operations.”
While he stressed his caution over whether a peace deal would be secured, Starmer said: “If there’s a deal, it’s really important that we’re able to react straightaway. So that’s why we’re doing this work.”
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