Ukraine’s Coalition of the willing ‘ready to go’ within hours of ceasefire deal

A plan to put peacekeeping troops in Ukraine after a ceasefire is ‘ready to go’ as Russia floats a ‘new idea’.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France's President Emmanuel Macron take part in a video conference with NATO leaders during a Coalition of the Willing meeting. Picture: AFP

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Donald Trump to “stay with” Europeans in backing Ukraine as France’s Emmanuel Macron revealed coalition of the willing peacekeepers were “ready to go” as soon as a ceasefire deal was reached.

At the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome, Mr Merz offered a message “to Washington DC and to President Donald Trump: stay with us and stay with the Europeans, we are on the same page and we are looking for a stable political order in this world”.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the Ukraine Recovery Conference. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Merz has been in talks with Mr Trump on a request to purchase American-made Patriot air defence systems for Ukraine to help the war-battered country shield itself from Russian air attacks.

“We are ready to purchase additional Patriot systems from the USA to make them available to Ukraine,” he said, adding that, because “the Americans need them themselves”, no final decision had been taken yet.

Meanwhile, at a coalition of the willing meeting chaired by Mr Macron and the UK’s Sir Keir Starmer, the French President called for fresh sanctions against Moscow to secure a ceasefire, adding “we clearly need something new … to step up the pressure on Russia”.

What was needed, he said, was “something that can modify the pressure on the Russian economy”.

Discussing the planned peacekeeping force, Mr Macron said: “We have a plan that is ready to go and initiate in the hours after a ceasefire.”

Sir Keir confirmed that, saying “these plans are mature and we are putting them on a long-term footing”.

“We should shift our work for preparing for peace, making it happen by forcing Putin to the table … this co-ordinated pressure will make a difference,” Sir Keir said.

The two leaders were speaking from a British military base in Northwood, northwest London, used by NATO as a command centre.

They were joined from Rome by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal, while other European leaders dialled in from elsewhere.

In his remarks, Mr Zelensky said it was “obvious to all partners that Russia is blocking all peace efforts”, as he also urged fresh sanctions on Moscow.

US support for Kyiv has come into question since Trump took office in January, as the president made overtures to Moscow in an attempt to strike a peace deal.

However, this week Mr Trump said that Mr Putin was talking “a lot of bullsh-t” on Ukraine.

Mr Trump’s criticism came a day after he said he would send more weapons to Ukraine, in a reversal of Washington’s announcement last week that it was halting some arms shipments.

‘Frank exchange’

Meanwhile, Russian and American top diplomats held a “frank exchange” as they met in Malaysia, Moscow said, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had shared a “new idea” on Ukraine.

The pair met hours after Moscow pummelled Kyiv for a second night in a row and as the UN said the number of victims from Russian attacks was at its highest level in three years.

After launching the barrage, which killed two people in the Ukrainian capital on Thursday, Moscow denied peace talks with Kyiv were at a dead end.

“A substantive and frank exchange of views took place on the settlement of the situation in Ukraine,” Moscow’s foreign ministry said in a statement on the meeting.

Mr Rubio told reporters Lavrov had floated something “new” on the conflict, but did not share details of the proposal.

“It’s not a new approach. It’s a new idea or a new concept that I’ll take back to the president to discuss,” he said.

He added that it was not something that “automatically leads to peace, but it could potentially open the door to a path.” Russia did not comment on the idea.

The US diplomat said he had also conveyed Mr Trump’s anger that the more than three-year war, triggered by Russia’s 2022 invasion, was still ongoing.

“I echoed what the president said, both a disappointment and frustration at the lack of progress,” Mr Rubio said.