UK, France and Ukraine will present peace deal to Trump, Starmer says
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer waits to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at Downing Street in London on March 1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON - Britain and France will work on a peace deal with Ukraine and present it to US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on March 2, describing it as a step in the right direction following an explosive meeting in the White House between the Ukrainian and American leaders.
Mr Starmer, due to host Western leaders in London in a bid to revive a peace deal, said he hoped a European “coalition of the willing” would come together to support Kyiv, but that any ceasefire had to be underpinned by the United States to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine again.
“In other words, we’ve got to find those countries in Europe that are prepared to be a bit more forward-leaning,” he told BBC television.
“The UK and France are the most advanced on the thinking of this and that is why President Macron and I are working on this plan, which we will then discuss with the US.”
Mr Starmer spoke to Mr Macron and Mr Trump on March 1 after he hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Downing Street, a day after Mr Trump and Mr Zelensky clashed in an extraordinary meeting at the White House.
Mr Starmer repeated his assertion that a peace deal would work in Ukraine only if a possible European peacekeeping force had a security guarantee from the United States.
“I’ve always been clear that that is going to need a US backstop, because I don’t think it would be a guarantee without it,” he said. REUTERS
