Starmer has his work cut out bringing peace to Ukraine

Keir Starmer today attempted to make the debate about Ukraine’s future one primarily held by Ukraine and European countries. This came after Donald Trump had suggested at the end of last week that it was for the US and Russia to decide.

In his press conference after the summit of European leaders in London, the Prime Minister said work was now beginning on a deal to end the war with Russia, led by European countries to then be discussed with the US to ‘take it forward together’.  He also dismissed suggestions that the US was an ‘unreliable ally’, and suggested that America was at least not opposed outright to the UK leading work on a plan for peace. Starmer told reporters:

Look, I spoke to President Trump last night. I’m not going to go through the details of that conversation, but I would not be taking this step down this road if I didn’t think it was something that would yield a positive outcome in terms of ensuring that we move together – Ukraine, Europe, the UK and the US – towards a lasting peace.

But the Prime Minister also made clear that while Russia would eventually have to sign an agreement ‘we can’t approach this on the basis that Russia dictates the terms of any security deal’. That is very different to the basis on which Trump was negotiating with Ukrainian President Zelensky last week. Starmer said that there needed to be a ‘coalition of the willing’ to defend the peace in Ukraine, adding that ‘not every nation will feel able to contribute, but that can’t mean that we sit back’.

Starmer also announced £1.6 billion of UK export finance to allow Ukraine to buy 5,000 air defence missiles. As if to contradict the suggestion from the US that Ukraine was just demanding more and more support without any benefit for the countries helping, he also rather pointedly said the missiles would be ‘made in Belfast, creating jobs in our brilliant defence sector’, underlining very directly that this kind of help for Kyiv is also beneficial for the UK. 

The Prime Minister’s tone was not one of any kind of celebration at all. He warned at the end of his statement: ‘We are at a crossroads in history today. This is not a moment for more talk. It’s time to act.’ He seemed aware that while the tide of opinion is currently in his favour for not responding hastily to the Oval Office meltdown and instead trying to lead a serious response from Europe, any kind of deal is very far off, and this could all end in failure too.