Wes Streeting has dismissed Vladimir Putin’s comments that Russia is “ready” for war with Europe as the “same old sabre-rattling”.
The Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper meanwhile said the Russian leader should “end the bluster” as she joined Nato foreign ministers for talks on Wednesday.
Mr Putin held talks for around five hours in Moscow with Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The Kremlin called those talks, which ended late on Tuesday, “constructive”, but said they had not furthered the push towards peace in Ukraine.
Earlier, Mr Putin had accused Kyiv’s European allies of sabotaging the US-led efforts to end the war and rejected changes proposed by Ukraine and Europe to a US-backed draft peace plan as unacceptable.
He accused Europe of amending peace proposals with “demands that are absolutely unacceptable to Russia”, thus “blocking the entire peace process” and blaming Moscow for it.
Mr Putin said Russia has no plans to attack Europe, but warned that “if Europe suddenly wants to wage a war with us and starts it, we are ready right away. There can be no doubt about that”.
The Health Secretary told Sky News: “I think we should see this for what it is, which is the same old sabre-rattling we’ve heard from President Putin.
“And the the irony of President Putin talking about warmongering on the part of European leaders would be laughable if what he’s doing in Ukraine weren’t so serious.”
He added that “we do take the threat from Russia seriously” and that the Government is “prioritising investment in defence”.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called on Mr Putin to “end the bluster and the bloodshed”.
She said the UK would provide an additional £10 million for Ukraine to repair its energy infrastructure after attacks by the Russian military as she arrived at the Nato foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
She said: “Two presidents are seeking peace – President Trump and President Zelensky.
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“But so far, all we have seen from President Putin is an attempt to escalate war, and that is why President Putin should end the bluster and the bloodshed and be ready to come to the table and to support a just and lasting peace for Ukraine and for the security of Europe and the security of Nato.”
Kremlin adviser Yuri Ushakov said the Moscow talks had been “constructive”, but did not signal any breakthrough on the US peace plan.
“Some of the American proposals seem more or less acceptable, but they need to be discussed.
“Some of the wording that was proposed to us doesn’t suit us. So, the work will continue,” he said.
