Britain’s Foreign Secretary is set to meet G7 allies at a major security summit on Friday as the West reels from Donald Trump’s announcement of imminent Ukraine peace talks with Vladimir Putin.
David Lammy will travel to the Munich Security Conference, where he is expected to attend a G7 meeting and a dinner with his counterparts from the US, France, Italy and Germany – the so-called “Quint”.
But while he may have expected to discuss the Middle East and migration as well as European security, it will be Ukraine that features at the top of the conference agenda as Europe responds to Trump’s discussion of a peace deal with the Russian president.
The US president reversed American policy on Wednesday, announcing he had spoken to Putin and agreed to “work together, very closely” to end the conflict in Ukraine that began with the Russian invasion three years ago.
Although he had initially appeared non-committal about involving Ukraine in talks about its future, Trump said on Thursday that it would have a seat at the table.
But in comments to journalists in the Oval Office, he insisted that he could “trust” Putin and said he would like to see Russia readmitted to the G7.
The country was kicked out of the then-G8 in 2014 over its invasion of Crimea.
Western leaders, including Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, had insisted throughout Thursday that Ukraine must be fully involved in any peace negotiation, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying he could not accept “any agreements (made) without us”.
The US has suggested that as part of a peace deal, Ukraine must accept it will have to give up some territory to Russia, and that Nato membership is not a realistic prospect.
But Nato’s official position – endorsed by Sir Keir’s Government in the UK/Ukraine 100-year partnership – is that Kyiv is on an “irreversible” path to joining the alliance.
Questions remain about what concessions Russia would have to make in any deal, with former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger saying Ukraine had been asked to make “some very, very hefty concessions… without much being asked for in return”.
Former Defence Secretary Sir Ben Wallace used much stronger language, warning of a “stench of appeasement” over Ukraine after the call between Trump and Putin.
With Munich holding its annual security conference, Sir Ben said: “What a shame, then, that this year’s gathering seems set to mirror the disastrous conference of 1938 where the continent stood blind in the face of Hitler’s duplicity. The stench of appeasement is once again returning to Munich.
He spoke out as Trump’s new administration was forced to deny “betraying” Ukraine after signalling it expects annexed Crimea to remain in Putin’s hands.
Mr Hegseth also announced this week that America was no longer “primarily focused” on guaranteeing European security, leading to calls from some European capitals for greater spending on defence.
As well as his meetings with the G7 and the Quint, Mr Lammy is expected to take part in an event on Ukraine and meet representatives from European, Middle Eastern and North American nations.
Mr Lammy will be joined by the Defence Secretary, John Healey, who has already attended a Nato meeting and chaired a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group this week.
