Donald Trump’s interventions over the Ukraine war have created a “viable” chance of a ceasefire, but Britain stands ready to “increase pressure” on Russia if necessary, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
In a call with allies on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said the meeting expected between the US president and Russian leader Vladimir Putin is “hugely important”, but any deal must protect Kyiv’s “territorial integrity”.
It comes amid concerns about the prospect of Ukraine being sidelined in negotiations about its own future after Mr Trump suggested any truce would involve some “swapping” of land.
Leaders including Sir Keir and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky held virtual talks with the US president earlier on Wednesday as Europe braces for the outcome of his face-to-face discussions with Mr Putin in Alaska on Friday.
Mr Trump told reporters in Washington he rated the call “a 10” and revealed a second meeting, with both the Ukrainian president and the Russian president present, could take place “if the first one goes okay”.
Co-chairing a meeting of the so-called “coalition of the willing” – a European-led effort to send a peacekeeping force to Ukraine in the event of truce – Sir Keir said any deal must sit alongside “robust” security guarantees.
“This meeting on Friday that President Trump is attending is hugely important,” he said.
“As I’ve said personally to President Trump for the three-and-a-bit years this conflict has been going on, we haven’t got anywhere near a prospect of actually a viable solution, a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire.
“And now we do have that chance, because of the work of that the president has put in.”
Further sanctions could be imposed on Russia should the Kremlin fail to engage, and the UK is already working on its next package of measures targeting Moscow, he said.
“We’re ready to support this, including from the plans we’ve already drawn up to deploy a reassurance force once hostilities have ceased,” he told allies.
“It is important to remind colleagues that we do stand ready also to increase pressure on Russia, particularly the economy, with sanctions and wider measures as may be necessary.”
Mr Trump announced last week that he would meet Mr Putin on US soil on Friday, as he seeks an end to a conflict he had promised he could finish on his first day in office.
It is believed one of the Russian leader’s demands is for Ukraine to cede parts of the Donbas region which it still controls.
But Mr Zelensky has already rejected any proposal that would compromise Ukraine’s territorial integrity, something that is forbidden by the country’s constitution.
In a press conference alongside German chancellor Friedrich Merz after the joint call on Wednesday, the Ukrainian president said “Trump supported us today” and the US is ready to continue that support.
French president Emmanuel Macron said the US president had been “very clear” on the virtual meeting that he wanted to secure a ceasefire in the talks on Friday.
Asked if it was his decision not to invite Mr Zelensky to his meeting with Mr Putin on Friday, Mr Trump told reporters in Washington: “No, just the opposite.”
“We had a very good call, he was on the call, President Zelensky was on the call. I would rate it a 10, you know, very, very friendly.”
He added: “There’s a very good chance that we’re going to have a second meeting which will be more productive than the first, because the first is I’m going to find out where we are and what we’re doing.”
He continued: “We’ll have a quick second meeting between President Putin and President Zelensky and myself, if they’d like to have me there.”
