Donald Trump seemed enthusiastic about Keir Starmer’s suggestion of sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine last night– as long as they aren’t US troops.
As the US president continues to push for a peace in Ukraine by negotiating with Russia – but not Europe or Kyiv – worries grow in the west over just how the war will be settled.
Trump has repeatedly expressed his sympathies for Russia and falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war.
His officials have also suggested Ukraine should cede occupied territory to Moscow and renounce any Nato ambitions.
Locked out of the US’s early talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia this week, some leaders – like Starmer – have put forward their own ideas to protect Ukraine.
Starmer said the UK would be “ready and willing” to deploy troops in the war-torn country if a deal was struck.
Trump was then asked what he thought about sending European peacekeepers to the war-torn country by reporters on Tuesday. He replied: “If they want to do that, that’s great, I’m all for it.”
However, he said the potential US deployment of troops was not an option.
Trump said: “We won’t have to put any over there because, you know, we’re very far away.”
Writing for The Telegraph over the weekend, the prime minister said that the UK is “ready and willing” to put British peacekeeping troops on the ground in Ukraine.
He said that “securing a lasting peace in Ukraine that safeguards its sovereignty for the long term is essential” to stop Putin from “further aggression”.
“We must be clear that peace cannot come at any cost. Ukraine must be at the table in these negotiations, because anything less would accept Putin’s position that Ukraine is not a real nation,” Starmer said.
He added: “The end of this war, when it comes, cannot merely become a temporary pause before Putin attacks again.”
However, his peacekeeping plans were later dismissed by Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz as “completely premature”.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov wrote off the idea too, claiming: “Any appearance by armed forces under some other flag does not change anything. It is of course completely unacceptable.”
After attending an emergency summit with European leaders in Paris, Starmer also claimed said any Ukraine peace deal would require a “US backstop”.
He did not set out exactly what that meant, but it could include air support, intelligence capabilities and logistics from the States.
Starmer added that Europe would now “have to do more” to defend itself amid the “generational” security challenge from Russia.
The PM is due to meet Trump in Washington DC next week to discuss the plans.
Asked if the UK is going to clash with president over its foreign policy, policing minister, Diana Johnson told LBC: “I think it is really early days at the moment as to what is happening.”
She added: “I think there’s a long way to go on this, but I think the prime minister has been really clear that we will of course step up and do what we can to secure the security of Europe.”
Officials from the Trump administration sat down with Vladimir Putin’s representatives in Saudi Arabia yesterday and agreed to set up high-level diplomatic teams to hash out a deal.