UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday he would be prepared to send British troops to Ukraine if Moscow agreed to a deal requiring the presence of European peacekeepers.
This marks the first time the British leader has explicitly said he would be willing to deploy the UK army to Ukraine and comes right before an emergency meeting of European leaders in Paris.
Starmer is set to attend the meeting, an EU source close to the matter told Euronews.
In an op-ed for the Daily Telegraph, Starmer acknowledged that sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine risked "putting them in harm's way" but that the crisis was an "existential" question for Europe and a "once in a generation moment."
He also said that the UK was willing to lead in Ukraine's defence and security, including committing £3 billion (€3.6bn) annually until 2030.
His comments come after a whirlwind week of speeches by officials in the new Trump administration, during which they suggested the US would wind down its defence commitments in Europe and push forward peace talks in Ukraine without the involvement of European leaders.
US President Donald Trump's special envoy on Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, said on Saturday that it was unlikely Europe would have a seat at the negotiating table in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
However, he did say that a "European alliance" would be "critical" to ensuring Ukrainian sovereignty.
Last week, Trump and US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth both implied they were not closely concerned with the return of Russian-occupied territories to Kyiv or Ukraine's long-held NATO aspirations — both key to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's proposed peace deal.
MNA/
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