Russian President Vladimir Putin would breach a peace deal with Ukraine if it is not defended, Sir Keir Starmer has said, after attending a meeting of senior military leaders in London.
The UK prime minister said any agreement to stop the fighting between Russia and Ukraine would “only be lasting” if there were “security arrangements in place”.
He was speaking at Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood, London, where more than 20 countries gathered at a closed meeting to discuss proposals for troops in Ukraine to help guarantee the country’s security as part of any peace deal.
Sir Keir said security arrangements would make clear to Russia there would be “severe consequences if they are to breach any deal”.
The prime minister said the UK and its allies were moving from “political momentum” to “military planning”, which he said had “to be done now” before a deal was agreed.
He said: “It is vitally important we do that work because we know one thing for certain, which is a deal without anything behind it is something that Putin will breach.
“We know that because it happened before. I’m absolutely clear in my mind it will happen again”.
Sir Keir ruled out redeploying UK troops from countries such as Estonia to commit to Kyiv, saying: “There’s no pulling back from our commitments to other countries.”
UK Defence Secretary John Healey was at the closed meeting of military leaders from countries that form part of what Sir Keir has dubbed the “coalition of the willing”.
Downing Street said the military leaders would be involved in “granular planning” for details of any potential deployment.
The UK called the meeting of military chiefs after a summit earlier this month attended by 26 countries.
The potential deployment of troops should be described as a “reassurance force” rather than a “peacekeeping force”, defence and diplomatic sources say.
Earlier, Sir Keir visited the Port of Barrow, in Cumbria, north-west England where the UK’s nuclear submarines are built.
He told reporters the talks in London were focussing on how to “keep the skies, and the seas, and the borders safe in Ukraine”.
According to the Daily Telegraph, sending British Typhoon jets to Ukraine to provide air cover for troops was one of the proposals discussed during the meeting.
Ahead of the talks, Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard said “we’re not yet talking about numbers” of UK troops potentially being sent to Ukraine “because we’re still designing the shape of the force”.
Giving an example, he said: “If one nation offers fast jet combat air, like a Typhoon aircraft for instance, how will the other nations work alongside it? Where will it refuel? How will it operate with other nations’ capabilities?”
The armed forces minister said he expected discussions would be to ensure “any force in or around Ukraine can be as credible as possible”.
During a visit to Norway on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia “must stop making unnecessary demands that only prolong the war”.
Calls between US President Donald Trump, Putin and Zelensky, have failed to produce the 30-day ceasefire envisaged by the White House.
On Thursday Zelensky said Ukrainian officials would meet their US counterparts in Saudi Arabia next Monday, after the Kremlin confirmed US-Russia talks there the same day.
The latest talks come as the US attempts to broker a ceasefire between the two nations after more than three years of fighting.
Both Zelensky and Putin have agreed to a ceasefire in principle during conversations with the US – but one has yet to materialise due to conflicting conditions.
