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Sir Keir Starmer will convene a meeting on Saturday of leaders from countries willing to help secure a ceasefire deal in Ukraine, as military planning for a peacekeeping operation intensifies.
The UK prime minister will host a virtual meeting of what he called “a coalition of the willing” — a group of mainly European and Commonwealth countries willing to help secure a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
Downing Street said on Monday the exact participants had yet to be confirmed. British officials last week said that “about 20” countries were holding talks about how they might support Ukraine if fighting stops.
The meeting will come at the end of a week of intense diplomacy, which will see Ukraine and the US hold bilateral talks in Saudi Arabia on a deal for mineral rights in Ukraine and a ceasefire.
Starmer spoke to US President Donald Trump on Monday; according to Downing Street the prime minister said “he hoped there would be a positive outcome to the talks that would enable US aid and intelligence sharing to be restarted”.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron has also convened talks with army chiefs from European countries on Tuesday, and a meeting of defence ministers from the UK, Italy, Germany and Poland.
Britain and France have offered to deploy what they call a “reassurance force” of troops inside Ukraine intended to deter Russia from renewing its attacks. The force would help protect cities and crucial sites such as power plants.
British officials have conceded that not all countries in the “coalition of the willing” are prepared to put boots on the ground. But they said all nations were prepared to help in some way, for example in providing logistical or “backfilling” for UK or French troops currently deployed in other theatres.
Starmer has struggled to find countries to commit to a military operation inside Ukraine, with many waiting to see the shape of any peace deal and whether the US will support it.
Poland, for example, has offered logistics support despite ruling out putting troops on the ground. Norway’s foreign minister Espen Barth Eide told the BBC on Sunday the country would be “happy to contribute in one way or the other”, but was unable to commit to specific support.
Italy has expressed reluctance about the plans, while Germany and Spain have said it is too early to say. Ireland, Luxembourg and Belgium have said they can imagine taking part if necessary.
While most participants are European countries, Canada has offered to help and Starmer hopes Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, will join the effort after the two leaders spoke at the weekend.
Senior military officials from the group will meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss practicalities for a peace operation, with Britain represented by chief of defence staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.
Starmer has said the peacekeeping force can only be successful if the US provides a military backstop, including air cover and surveillance. But Trump has refused to offer such support.
British officials said they believed there was a “chicken and egg” situation, where European capitals waited for Trump to offer US military cover while Trump waited to see if the Europeans — and potentially Canada and Australia — were willing to run a serious operation in Ukraine.
Trump has ratcheted up the pressure on Kyiv to agree a ceasefire since an Oval Office bust-up with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including cutting off military and intelligence support to Ukraine.
Starmer and Macron have been working to repair the rift and to develop a peace plan to present to Trump. Ukraine’s bilateral talks with the US this week have led to a quiet shift in tactics, with British officials leaving the talks with US to Kyiv — albeit while offering advice in the background.
Downing Street said Starmer told Trump that UK officials had been “speaking to Ukraine officials over the weekend and they remain committed to a lasting peace”. A British official added: “It is great that Ukraine is talking directly to the US again now.”
The UK’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell has been in Kyiv advising Zelenskyy’s team on how to handle the discussions.
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