Putin will return to Ukraine unless US provides security guarantees, Starmer warns

Starmer pledges to boost British military spending following pressure from Trump

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has warned US President Donald Trump, whom he is meeting on Friday (AEDT), that Russia President Vladimir Putin will “come again” unless the US provides security guarantees to British troops stationed in Ukraine after a potential ceasefire.

Sir Keir said he had made the “considered decision” to deploy troops to Ukraine with soldiers from France and other European nations provided that there was a “backstop” from the US.

Before his meeting with Mr Trump in Washington on Friday, Mr Starmer said that lasting peace would not be achieved without American support and that an effective deterrent to Mr Putin was needed. Although the US has ruled out putting troops on the ground in Ukraine, Britain wants it to provide military support, including air cover.

Mr Trump indicated on Thursday (AEDT) that there would be a limit to US support. He said it would not do “very much” to give guarantees and that it was up to European nations to take responsibility.

He later told his cabinet that the EU had been “formed to screw the United States” and said that 25 per cent tariffs on European goods, including cars, would be introduced.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, meanwhile, is set to meet Mr Trump on Saturday (AEDT) to finalise a deal on US access to Ukraine’s mineral wealth, hoping to win guarantees of future American support.

Holding his first cabinet meeting on Thursday (AEDT), Mr Trump said the Ukrainian president’s visit to Washington was “now confirmed”, after days of tension between the two leaders over the minerals deal.

Mr Zelensky, who had come under mounting pressure from US officials to sign the accord, told a press conference he would immediately follow his trip to Washington with talks with Mr Starmer and other European leaders in Britain at the weekend.

His comments came just hours after Russian artillery killed at least five people in Ukraine’s war-battered east and a drone barrage claimed two more lives near Kyiv, including a Ukrainian journalist.

It comes after the new Trump administration demanded access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals to compensate for billions of dollars of wartime aid it sent under former president Joe Biden.

On Wednesday (AEDT), Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “We’re saying, look ... we want to get that money back. Without the US and its money and its military equipment, this war would have been over in a very short period of time.”

A draft of the agreement does not include security guarantees, but Mr Trump has suggested it would be worth about $US350bn to the US.

Sources in Ukraine said the deal would involve the US jointly developing Ukraine’s mineral wealth, with revenues going to a newly created fund that would be “joint for Ukraine and America”.

Ukraine had asked for security guarantees from the US as part of any deal, which Mr Trump appeared to signal would be forthcoming. “We need peacekeeping too,” he said. “A form of peacekeeping that’s acceptable to everyone.”

Mr Starmer has committed Britain to sending soldiers to Ukraine as part of a European peacekeeping force if the US is willing to provide security ­guarantees.

He plans to increase defence spending by £6bn a year from 2027, and to hit 3 per cent of GDP by 2033. The pledge will be funded by cutting foreign aid from 0.5 per cent of national income to 0.3 per cent, a decision which was branded “short-sighted” by some Labour MPs.

However, Sir Keir said that the “defence and security of the British people must always come first”. He said the aid cut was “not a decision I wanted to make” but he had to make “hard choices” to ensure Britain’s security. He is not expected to give MPs a vote on the decision.

“My concern is if there is a ceasefire without a backstop, it will simply give him the opportunity to wait and to come again, because his ambition in relation to Ukraine is pretty obvious, I think.”

Russia has said it will not accept British troops in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping mission. Sir Keir said: “I’m not answering to Putin. I’m considering how we preserve peace in Europe and how we get a lasting peace in Ukraine. I’m absolutely convinced that we need a lasting peace, not a ceasefire, and for that to happen we need security guarantees. Precisely what that layers up to, what that looks like, is obviously a subject of intense discussion. We will play our part and I’ve been clear that we will need a US backstop of some sort.”

Britain is drawing up plans for a force of 30,000 British and European troops to be deployed to key cities, ports and infrastructure sites across Ukraine. The British government is seeking air cover from the US as a guarantee.

Britain and the EU are exploring a joint “rearmament” bank to help cover the cost of defending Europe. Sir Keir said: “I’ve been having really intense discussions with our European partners, with NATO, with UK and obviously with US teams as well.

“We are at this generational point and we have to meet that challenge. I accept that European allies, the UK included, must do more and that means on capability, co-ordination and spend.”

His commitments are intended to go some way to meeting the concerns of Mr Trump, who has been pushing America’s NATO allies to increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP. Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defence, welcomed Starmer’s decision as a “strong step from an enduring partner”.

THE TIMES