Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
UK defence secretary John Healey on Wednesday flew to Washington for talks with his US counterpart Pete Hegseth on the “parameters” of a European peace plan for Ukraine, according to people briefed on the talks.
The building blocks of an accord include the minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv that Volodymyr Zelenskyy signalled on Tuesday he was willing to sign. Britain and France see it as the first stage in a plan they hope they can sell to Donald Trump.
Zelenskyy also endorsed a French plan for what British officials call a “phased” effort to end the war — starting with a truce to halt sea and air attacks — that could ultimately lead to European troops being deployed to help guarantee a total ceasefire.
But UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have said that a European force could only be effective in deterring future Russian aggression with a US military “backstop”, a security guarantee that Trump has so far refused to offer.
Healey will seek to persuade Hegseth that the US will need to offer a military cover for a European force. Without such US security guarantees the European plan remains incomplete.
“That’s a work in progress,” admitted one British official, with studied understatement. Trump has said that the presence of US companies in Ukraine exploiting the country’s mineral wealth would be a sufficient backstop: Starmer on Monday told MPs it would not.
Healey will also urge the Americans to restore paused military aid and intelligence to Ukraine, as part of an effort to ensure Zelenskyy was in “the strongest possible position” in peace talks with Moscow.
British officials said they were relieved Zelenskyy had followed Starmer’s advice — delivered in a phone call between the two leaders on Tuesday — and agreed to sign the mineral deal as well as publicly thanking Trump for US support.
The officials said details of the plan had yet to be finalised but “the parameters are in place”. However, the final shape of a proposal will depend on conversations with the White House.
“We need them to engage in having a reasonable conversation,” said one European official engaged in the discussions. “We are doing our best to move things forward.”
Starmer and Macron have said they will formally present the plan to Trump. Downing Street has declined to comment on when the British premier might return to Washington. A French government spokesman said on Wednesday a joint visit including Zelenskyy was “being considered” but the Elysée later said this was wrong.
Macron on Sunday raised the idea of a one month truce covering air, sea and infrastructure, which Downing Street initially distanced itself from. “It’s not a UK plan,” one ally of Starmer said at the time.
While Britain has doubts about the idea of a one month initial truce — UK ministers have warned it could allow Russia to regroup — London now accepts the idea of a staged peace process in principle.
“It would be the start of a rolling process,” said one British official close to the discussions, which London and Paris hope will eventually lead to a full ceasefire guaranteed by a European force on the ground with US air cover and surveillance in support.
British ministers privately expressed relief on Wednesday that Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday struck a more conciliatory tone on Ukraine than some officials had predicted.
The US president said he had received an “important letter” from Zelenskyy signalling his willingness to negotiate a peace deal with Moscow and to sign a minerals deal with the US. It followed a heated argument between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last week.
Earlier on Tuesday evening, UK foreign secretary David Lammy hosted a call with his counterparts among the Weimar+ group, which was established last month in response to the US policy shift on the Ukraine war and which includes France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Italy and the EU as well as the UK.
Foreign ministers reiterated their commitment to Ukraine and discussed options for economic support, according to people familiar with the call. They looked ahead to an EU summit on Thursday, to which Starmer has not been invited despite rallying fellow European leaders in London last weekend.
Additional reporting by Leila Abboud in Paris
