Russian President Vladimir Putin “will breach” a peace in Ukraine unless any potential deal is defended, British Premier Keir Starmer said as he attended a meeting of defence chiefs aimed at drawing up military plans for a peacekeeping force.
The prime minister said he was “certain” the Russian president would flout the terms of a truce unless security arrangements were in place to ensure sovereignty for the war-torn country.
Starmer and British Defence Secretary John Healey are meeting military planners from the UK and allied countries gathering in London to firm up proposals for a peacekeeping operation in Ukraine.
Discussions are taking place about how best to deter further Russian aggression against Kiev amid fragile diplomatic efforts to secure a deal to end the war, including the prospect of UK forces currently guarding NATO‘s eastern flank being redeployed to Ukraine with other allies filling the gap.
Speaking after arriving at the meeting, Starmer said: “Last weekend and two weekends before that, we had groupings of international political leaders coming together to provide the political alignment and the collective agreement that we need to work together to ensure that any deal that is put in place is defended.
“What’s happening here is turning that political intention into reality, the concept into plans.”
Starmer went on: “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”.
Calls this week between US President Donald Trump, Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, have failed to produce the 30-day ceasefire envisaged by the White House.
Instead, the Russian leader agreed to a suspension of attacks on energy infrastructure.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Putin should not be given a “veto” over the presence of European peacekeepers in Ukraine if a deal is done to end the war.
“Putin should simply accept an unconditional ceasefire. That is the plan on the table, let’s get on with it, what are we waiting for?” he told a business conference in London.
“What we certainly can’t do is give Putin a veto over the security architecture that will govern that peace.”
Lammy spoke to his US counterpart Marco Rubio on Wednesday.
Downing Street said the military leaders would be involved in “granular planning” of the details of any potential deployment.
Zelensky said he believes a “lasting peace can be achieved this year” after his call with Trump.
In the same call, the US leader suggested that Washington takes ownership of Ukrainian power plants to ensure their security.
Zelensky, who was updating European Union leaders on the discussions during their summit in Brussels on Thursday, said that overnight Russia carried out a series of drone attacks on the Kirovohrad region.
The strikes left “10 people wounded, including four children, and caused damage to homes, a church and infrastructure,” he said.
British military intelligence officials estimate 200-250,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the 2022 invasion, the country’s largest losses since the Second World War.
“Russian President Putin and the Russian military leadership highly likely prioritise their conflict objectives over the lives of Russian soldiers,” the assessment released by the Ministry of Defence said.
“They are almost certainly prepared to tolerate continuously high casualty rates so long as this does not negatively affect public or elite support for the war, and those losses can be replaced.”
In total there have been an estimated 900,000 casualties, including the wounded, with the bulk of military personnel drawn from impoverished regions and ethnic minorities, the defence intelligence update said.