US and Russian officials are meeting in Saudi Arabia to lay the ground for talks about ending Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, as Donald Trump insisted Volodymyr Zelensky would be included in any ceasefire discussions.
But there have been no such guarantees for other European nations, prompting an emergency meeting in Paris to discuss Europe’s role in a ceasefire on Monday, featuring the leaders of the UK, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Denmark.
Mr Trump stunned Kyiv and its European allies last week when he announced he had held a call with Mr Putin without consulting them to discuss ending Russia’s war.
Mr Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, said on Saturday that Europe would not have a seat at the table for any peace talks, and Washington instead sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv.
Sir Keir, who is also expected to travel to Washington to meet Mr Trump next week, warned on Sunday that Europe was facing a “once in a generation moment” for the continent’s collective security.
The prime minister said that Britain was ready to play a leading role in delivering security guarantees for Ukraine – including being ready to put "our own troops on the ground if necessary". It is not yet clear where any UK troops would be based, but British military figures have warned that the country does not fave the resources required to do it.
Ukraine had previously warned that no peace deal is possible if it is forced to give up territory to Russia, after the US said supporting Kyiv to retake occupied land was “unrealistic”, in a dramatic policy shift signalled by US defence secretary Pete Hegseth last Wednesday.
“We want, like you, a sovereign and prosperous Ukraine,” Mr Hegseth said in Brussels on Wednesday. “But we must start by recognising that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering."
This marks a stark turn from the previous Joe Biden administration’s support for Ukraine to eject Russian forces from its land completely.
The hardline stance under the Trump regime has already faced backlash, with accusations that the US is “betraying” Ukraine.
“There must be no compromise at the expense of Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha told French publication Le Monde. “It is important to understand that Ukrainian security and transatlantic security are indivisible.”
Russia currently occupies a little under 20 per cent of Ukraine, including parts of four regions of mainland Ukraine, as well as the Crimean peninsula.
Mr Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014, when he illegally annexed Crimea. It is widely believed he then ordered unmarked soldiers known as “little green men” to fight on behalf of Russia in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
In February 2022, he then ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, reportedly hoping to take the country in just three days.
After being pushed back from Kyiv and northeastern Ukraine, the latest iteration of Mr Putin’s land grab focused on the four regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
In September 2022, he illegally annexed these four regions, none of which are completely controlled by Russian forces.
He has since repeatedly claimed that he will only agree to end his invasion of Ukraine if Kyiv cedes these four regions to him.
Ukraine and the country’s European supporters have suggested this would amount to rewarding Mr Putin for his illegal land grab.
