Top Russian and American diplomats are converging on Saudi Arabia for talks on the future of Ukraine, while European leaders rush to shore up military support for Kyiv.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister and the US secretary of state Marco Rubio, are set to meet in Riyadh on Tuesday in discussions that will exclude both Ukraine and Europe. They are also being held against a background of Kremlin assumptions that the new Trump administration is keen to re-set relations with Vladimir Putin’s regime.
Separately, European leaders are holding an emergency gathering in Paris on Monday, amid concerns they are being frozen out of discussions on any potential ceasefire deal.
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Mr Lavrov said he saw no role for Europe at the table, adding that there would be no talk of territorial concessions to Ukraine, around 20% of which is controlled by Russian forces.
"If they're [Europe] going to come up with some crafty ideas about freezing the conflict like this, and they themselves ... have in mind the continuation of the war, then why invite them?" he said on Monday. "Territorial concessions to what is now called Ukraine were made by the Soviet leadership during the formation of the USSR. "How should we give in - with Russian people or with rare earth metals?" Lavrov added, referring to a deal Mr Trump is planning on striking with Ukraine.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed his country would not be taking part in the talks between the Kremlin and Washington.
"Ukraine did not know anything about it," he told reporters in a virtual briefing from the United Arab Emirates, where he is on a state visit. "Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as ones that have no result, and we cannot recognise ... any agreements about us without us."
Ahead of the European meeting, Sir Keir Satmer said that he was prepared to put British troops “in harm’s way” to ensure Ukraine’s security as part of a future peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
Sir Keir said the UK was “ready to play a leading role... [which] means being ready and willing to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by putting our own troops on the ground if necessary”.
“I do not say that lightly. I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way,” he wrote in The Daily Telegraph.
Sweden joined the UK in backing an international force to guarantee Ukraine’s safety, which Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has said would need to number at least 150,000. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Monday, adding that negotiations would need to progress before any such decision was taken. However, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said his country would not send troops.
Emanuel Macron, who is hosting the informal summit, has suggested in the past that British and French troops might be deployed to Ukraine to underwrite a peace deal with Russia.
With Ukraine and Europe shut out of the talks about the future of Ukraine, and Europe, Starmer’s efforts were part of an attempt to quickly build a European consensus around defending Kyiv whatever concessions were made by Trump’s team in future talks.
But military figures have said that the UK had very limited capacity amid ongoing internal political debates about the future of the UK’s defence spending budget.
Lt General Sir Nick Borton, former commander of Nato's rapid reaction forces, told The Independent that "the scale and nature depends entirely on the peace that is agreed and the mandate and exact role of any such force.
“The broader issue is whether this force can be made up of forces from NATO, and if so, what impact it would have on their wider readiness for the core NATO mission of deterrence and defence,” he said.
And a former European general told The Independent that the British Prime Minister was being “naive”.
“He’s a hostage to fortune, offering troops before he knows what, where and when the mission is to be and what the associated risks are, who would be in command and who else would be part of this operation,” they added.
Mr Zelensky arrived in the UAE on Sunday as part of an official tour which will take him to Saudi Arabia and Turkey. On Monday he met with UAE president Mohammed bin Zayed who reportedly offered continued support to peace negotiaitons and humanitarian efforts but is certain to remain in lockstep with the Trump agenda.
European leaders are deeply concerned that the Trump team has already given away too much ahead of talks on Ukraine and that Washington no longer sees European security as a priority.
"A war of aggression cannot be rewarded, we cannot encourage others to launch wars of aggression," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in an interview with radio station Onda Cero.
"Today I'm convinced Putin will keep attacking and bombing Ukraine. So I do not see peace on the horizon at the moment," he added.
Mr Putin, and Mr Trump, have support from Hungary, a Nato member which has tried to veto European Union sanctions against Russia in the past.
Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a live Facebook video on Monday that "pro-war" European leaders are expected to meet in Paris later today and they want to prevent a deal on peace on Ukraine.
