The head of the British armed forces will tell his American counterparts the UK is prepared to send troops to defend Ukraine’s skies and seas but not to the frontline with Russia, as planning intensifies for a postwar settlement.
Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, will on Wednesday attend meetings at the Pentagon designed to finalise what 30 different countries are willing to commit to Ukraine’s national security.
Radakin is expected to confirm the UK will provide soldiers to help with logistical support and training, but not deploy them close to Russia. Officials had been talking about deploying as many as 30,000 troops to protect Ukrainian sites, but that has been scaled back amid opposition from some European countries.
One British official said: “Wednesday is a really important moment. Nothing happens in Washington without the president giving the green light, so Trump giving his support to security guarantees on Monday kickstarted a lot of activity.”
Another said Radakin would echo the pledges made last week by John Healey, the defence secretary, who said Britain was willing to deploy troops to Ukraine “to secure the safe skies, safe seas and to build the strength of the Ukrainian forces”.
They said ministers envisaged this as meaning logistical and training support rather than sending battalions of frontline troops who could end up in combat.
Wednesday’s meetings are being seen in Europe as a major step towards securing a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, which Keir Starmer has said will only be possible if the US is willing to provide security guarantees.
Donald Trump, the US president, told Starmer and other world leaders on Monday he would be willing to provide those guarantees. His Ukraine envoy, Steve Witkoff, has suggested they could be “article-5 like” reassurances, referring to the Nato clause that says that an attack on one member should be interpreted as an attack on all.
Starmer hosted a virtual call on Tuesday morning to brief more than 30 other world leaders on what had been discussed at the White House on Monday.
Downing Street said afterwards: “The prime minister outlined that coalition of the willing planning teams would meet with their US counterparts in the coming days to further strengthen plans to deliver robust security guarantees and prepare for the deployment of a reassurance force if the hostilities ended.”
Wednesday’s planning sessions at the Pentagon are being closely watched for any signs of what the US would be willing to commit. Trump insisted on Tuesday they would not involve American troops on the ground, telling Fox News: “You have my assurance [on that], and I’m president.”
But Britain is also planning to use the meetings to spell out to the Trump administration what it is willing to do to protect Ukraine should a peace deal be signed. Officials say British forces could be deployed to help with logistics in protecting Ukrainian airspace and ports, but not into situations that could risk combat with Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said on Tuesday that he expected the security guarantees to be finalised in the next “week or 10 days”.
Some experts say that European leaders do not expect Vladimir Putin to accept even such a limited deployment of Nato troops into Ukraine, and that European leaders are floating the idea to isolate the Russian president.
British officials insist this is not the case however, and that the UK and its partners are making serious preparations to send forces into the country should they be needed.
“You don’t get 30 chiefs of staff coming to the Pentagon if they are not serious about this,” said one.
