Britain and France are to lead a desperate European attempt to salvage peace hopes in Ukraine, with a plan to end the war that would include an initial one-month truce with Russia, covering air, sea and infrastructure.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said after a summit in London on Sunday that Europe would step in as intermediaries for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to try to “stop the fighting”, after the Ukrainian leader’s explosive row with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are promoting a deal which they hope would see Trump provide US cover for troops from a European “coalition of the willing” deployed to secure any ceasefire in Ukraine.
Starmer said Europe “must do the heavy lifting” but the “effort must have strong US backing”.
New details of the European peace plan emerged after Macron told Le Figaro that he and Starmer had proposed an initial truce between Russia and Ukraine “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure” that would last one month.
Macron added this approach would have the advantage of verifying Russia’s intentions, and would be easier than overseeing a truce on the ground along the entire front line. “In the event of a ceasefire, it would be very difficult to verify that the front is being respected,” he said.
Downing Street declined to comment, but Starmer has said Britain would put its troops on the ground in the event a ceasefire was agreed.
A one-month truce covering air, sea and infrastructure sites would help to establish confidence on both sides.
A second key part of the European plan would involve Zelenskyy signing a proposed deal to provide the US with a share of revenues from some of Ukraine’s mineral reserves, giving Washington an economic stake in a peace settlement. Trump wanted Zelenskyy to sign the agreement in Washington last Friday.
Lord Peter Mandelson, UK ambassador to Washington, urged Zelenskyy to sign the deal and called on Ukraine and all European leaders to give “unequivocal backing to the initiative President Trump is taking” to broker a peace.
In another sign of the latest British thinking, Mandelson told ABC: “Ukraine should be first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow.”
Many European countries are reluctant to commit to sending troops to Ukraine as part of a mission led by the UK and France. Germany, Spain and Poland are among those which have so far not offered to join “a coalition of the willing”.
Starmer said “a number of countries have indicated today they want to be part of the plans we are developing” but declined to name them.
He urged more countries to join a peacekeeping effort to persuade Trump that Europe is serious.
“I feel very strongly that unless some move forward we will stay in the same position we are in,” Starmer said. “This is not a moment for more talk. It’s a time to act, to step up and lead.” He said the Lancaster House summit in central London took place at “a crossroads in history”.
Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, insisted the EU would step up, saying Ukraine must be turned into “a steel porcupine that is indigestible for potential invaders”.
Starmer and Macron are leading European attempts to persuade Trump to provide a US security guarantee for any peace stabilisation force, but have so far been unsuccessful.
Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who has strong relations with Trump, is seen in European capitals as another key player.
The three leaders plan to agree a blueprint for peace with Zelenskyy and then present it to the White House, in an attempt to circumvent the toxic relationship that has developed between the Ukraine president and Trump.
“We have agreed that the UK, France and others will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting and then discuss those plans with the US,” Starmer said.
Starmer’s allies insisted Zelenskyy was not being sidelined and the UK premier said it would be for Kyiv and Moscow to decide where the “line” for any ceasefire was drawn.
But Europe would take the lead on discussing future security guarantees with Trump.
Trump has insisted that the presence of US companies and workers in Ukraine — exploiting the proposed minerals deal — would be enough to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching another attack on his neighbour.
But one ally of Starmer said a US military backstop would still be needed: “If the US has an economic stake, that will of course increase their interest in what happens next. But we don’t see that as a replacement.”
Starmer said UK and US teams were discussing ways in which Trump could help to secure any peace deal, although the president has always made it clear he sees that as a responsibility of European nations.
Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said as he left the summit that the “debate is ongoing” about whether the US would contribute to security guarantees.
Attendees at the London summit included outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, as well as von der Leyen and Rutte. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan also attended.
Starmer, Macron and Meloni all made it clear that while Europe needed to do more to defend itself, ultimately the road to peace in Ukraine had to run through the White House.
The London summit was also an opportunity for leaders to show support to Zelenskyy after the brutal verbal attack on him by Trump and US vice-president JD Vance in the Oval Office on Friday.
Zelenskyy was hugged by Starmer on the steps of Downing Street on Saturday and on Sunday he left the summit by helicopter to meet King Charles at his country retreat at Sandringham House.
Meanwhile, Starmer announced £1.6bn of British export guarantees would be provided to supply more than 5,000 air defence missiles for Ukraine, to be made in Belfast.
