The UK defence secretary, John Healey, will fly out to Washington on Wednesday for a two-day trip during which he will meet his counterpart, Pete Hegseth, after the Trump administration’s decision to halt all military aid to Ukraine.
Officials said the minister would go through the emerging peace proposals discussed in London by European leaders on Sunday, but it was not clear if he would press for a reversal of the military freeze, which appeared to have surprised the UK.
“The prime minister was clear following his meetings over the past week, that we will continue our dialogue with friends and allies to secure a path to a lasting peace in Ukraine,” Healey said in advance of his visit to the US capital.
The politicians will sit down on Thursday, the first time senior members of the two administrations have met in person since the White House dressing down of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the decision to stop future aid.
On Monday afternoon, Keir Starmer told MPs he did not expect the US to cut military aid for Ukraine. However, overnight it emerged that the US president, Donald Trump, had taken such a step, after a White House meeting at which Hegseth was one of a number of senior administration officials present.
Downing Street played down suggestions that No 10 was ambushed by Trump on Tuesday. “Things are moving at pace, and there are discussions happening every day,” a spokesperson said, emphasising that the UK and the US both wanted peace for Ukraine.
Defence sources said Healey’s trip was arranged last Tuesday, and so was not a response to current events. The two men had last week discussed the UK’s announcement that it would increase military spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 by cutting the aid budget.
Briefing notes from the Ministry of Defence said Healey and Hegseth would “discuss the plan for peace in Ukraine being worked on by the US, UK, France” and other mutual defence issues, including combating Islamic State in the Middle East.
The UK, working with France, desperately wants the US to provide a military “backstop” to Ukraine peace proposals Starmer is developing with Zelenskyy, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and other European leaders.
Starmer failed to persuade Trump when the two met at the White House last Thursday, a day before Trump’s attack on Zelenskyy, which threatened to tear apart transatlantic relations.
But the two leaders have remained in close contact over the weekend and Downing Street said the prime minister spoke to the president again on Monday night.
There was little detail on their latest call, but his spokesperson said the PM’s message to his cabinet on Tuesday morning was consistent with what he had told Trump. Starmer told his ministers that the US was an “indispensable” ally, and that “everyone” was aligned in pursuit of a plan for durable peace.
Starmer also spoke to Zelenskyy on Tuesday, acting as an intermediary between the leaders of Ukraine and the US, who are not thought to have spoken directly since their row last Friday.
“The prime minister updated on his discussion with President Trump last night,” a readout from No 10 said.
The two men also discussed peace proposals aired by the Ukrainian leader. Earlier on Tuesday, Zelenskyy called for a “truce in the sky” including a “ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure” and a ceasefire at sea “if Russia will do the same”.
Starmer will not be attending a special summit of EU leaders on Thursday to discuss continued support for Ukraine, although Zelenskyy has been invited. UK officials said the meeting was for Brussels to discuss its own defence spending plans, but that the prime minister would take part in a broader call involving European leaders on Friday.
