A coalition of the willing in order to bring about peace in Ukraine was announced by British Prime Minister Kir Starmer in the official announcements after the London summit.
As he said, “Britain, France, Ukraine and other countries will draw up a plan for peace and discuss it with the US.”
He also announced a deal to provide £1.6 billion in funding to Ukraine to enable Kiev to acquire 5,000 anti-aircraft missiles.
Our goal, said the British Prime Minister, is “to put Ukraine in a strong position so that it can negotiate from a position of strength”. At the same time, he stressed that the greatest burden for a peace agreement in Ukraine should be borne by Europe “but an agreement will also need the support of the US”.
According to Starmer, four steps were decided at the London Summit:
- Continue the flow of military aid to Ukraine for as long as the war is ongoing and the economic pressure on Russia is increasing
- Any sustainable peace must ensure Ukraine’s territorial integrity and security, and Ukraine must be in any negotiations for a peace agreement
- If there is a peace agreement, European leaders will ensure that they prevent any future invasion by Russia
- There will be an alliance of the willing to protect Ukraine and ensure peace in the country
As he also said, there was an agreement for a new meeting of the 15 leaders “very soon” to progress these decisions. “We are at a crossroads in history today. This is not a time for talk, but a time for action.”
When asked about the US, Starmer rejected the claim of an “unreliable ally” for Washington, saying that “it has been a reliable ally for several decades and continues to be.”
As he explained, today’s talks were held on the basis that Europe would cooperate with the US.
He also stressed that the point of the security guarantees for Ukraine was to ensure peace and rule out the possibility of further conflict.
The British Prime Minister was also asked whether he had discussed the plan he proposed with Donald Trump, and he replied that “I spoke to him on the phone last night. I won’t go into details, but I will tell you that I didn’t make this choice if I didn’t believe it was something that could have a positive effect in terms of whether we all move together – Ukraine, Europe, Britain and the United States – all together for a sustainable peace.”
According to him, any agreement should include Russia, but Moscow should not dictate the guarantees to Ukraine given Russia’s history of violating ceasefire agreements in the past.
In a new question about the “alliance of the willing” he announced, Starmer replied that “several countries” have expressed interest in joining this group but it is up to them to announce it. Asked to clarify whether countries outside Europe, such as Canada, could also participate in this alliance, the British Prime Minister replied “yes” and said of Canada that “it is a reliable ally.”
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