Sir Keir Starmer will on Saturday convene a meeting of leaders from countries willing to help secure any ceasefire deal in Ukraine, as military planning for a peacekeeping operation intensifies.
The UK prime minister will host a “virtual meeting” of what he called “a coalition of the willing” — a group of mainly European and Commonwealth countries willing to help secure a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
Downing Street on Monday said the exact participants had yet to be confirmed. British officials last week said that “about 20” countries were holding talks about how they might support Ukraine if fighting stops.
The meeting will come at the end of a week of intense diplomacy, which will see Ukraine and the US hold bilateral talks in Saudi Arabia on a deal for mineral rights in Ukraine and a ceasefire.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron has also convened talks with army chiefs from European countries on Tuesday, and a meeting of defence ministers from the UK, Italy, Germany and Poland.
Britain and France have offered to deploy what they call a “reassurance force” of troops inside Ukraine intended to deter Russia from renewing its attacks. The force would help protect cities and key sites like power plants or industry.
British officials have conceded that not all countries in the “coalition of the willing” are prepared to put boots on the ground.
But they said all nations were prepared to help in some way, for example in providing logistical or “backfilling” for UK or French troops currently deployed in other theatres.
Starmer has struggled to find countries to commit firmly to a military operation inside Ukraine, with many waiting first to see the shape of any peace deal and whether the US will support it.
Poland, for example, has offered logistics support despite ruling out putting troops on the ground. Norway’s foreign minister Espen Barth Eide told the BBC on Sunday the country would be “happy to contribute in one way or the other”, but was unable to commit to specific support.
Italy has declined to participate while Germany and Spain have said it is too early to say. Ireland, Luxembourg and Belgium have said they can imagine taking part if necessary.
While most participants are European countries, Canada has offered to help and Starmer also hopes that Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, will join the effort.
The two leaders spoke at the weekend and Downing Street said Starmer “welcomed Prime Minister Albanese’s commitment to consider contributing to a coalition of the willing for Ukraine”.
Senior military officials from the group will meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss practicalities for a peace operation, with Britain represented by chief of defence staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.
Starmer has said the peacekeeping force could only be successful if the US provides a military backstop, including air cover and surveillance. US President Donald Trump has so far refused to offer such support.
British officials said they believed there was a “chicken and egg” situation, where European capitals wait for Trump to offer US military cover for a peace force while Trump waits to see if the Europeans — and potentially Canada and Australia — are willing to run a serious operation in Ukraine.
Trump has ratcheted up the pressure on Kyiv to agree a ceasefire since an Oval Office bust up with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, including cutting off military and intelligence support to Ukraine.
Starmer and Macron have been working to repair the rift and to develop a peace plan to present to Trump. Ukraine’s bilateral talks with the US this week have led to a quiet shift in tactics, with British officials leaving the talks with US to Kyiv — albeit while offering advice in the background.
“It is great that Ukraine is talking directly to the US again now,” said one British official, referring to the talks this week in Saudi Arabia.
The UK’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell last weekend travelled to Kyiv to advise Zelenskyy’s team on how to handle the discussions.
