Europe ‘accelerating’ work on peacekeeping coalition for Ukraine, says Healey
Defence Secretary John Healey has met his counterparts from France, Germany, Italy and Poland.
European allies will “accelerate” work on forming a “coalition of the willing” to provide security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, the Defence Secretary has said.
Speaking at a press conference in Paris on Wednesday evening, John Healey said European nations would come “ever closer together” in the coming weeks following discussion of a possible truce between Kyiv and Moscow.
He said: “The UK and France are jointly leading work on planning to drive the push for peace and drive the arrangements for security guarantees for Ukraine.
“We are doing this work together, we are cooperating closely with partner nations, we are looking to build a coalition of the willing from Europe and beyond, and from today we are accelerating that work.”
His remarks follow a meeting with his counterparts from France, Germany, Italy and Poland – the so-called “E5” nations that spend the most on defence of European Nato members – and a meeting of military chiefs from 34 nations on Tuesday.
He added that Sir Keir Starmer would host another leaders’ summit on Saturday before further meetings between senior military officers next week.
But at the same press conference, French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu stressed that “the first guarantee of security for Ukraine is the Ukrainian armed forces”.
He said: “We cannot ask European troops to do the work of the Ukrainian armed forces. This is what we have done since the beginning, we are helping them to defend themselves.”
The flurry of activity comes against the background of an apparent breakthrough in talks between the US and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia designed to formulate proposals for a ceasefire.
Kyiv has said it is ready to accept plans for a 30-day immediate ceasefire, and US secretary of state Marco Rubio said his country would “have contact” with Russia on Wednesday.
Mr Rubio said Washington would put the proposals to Moscow directly, adding that “the ball is truly in their court” and rejection of the plan would “make their intentions clear”.
Echoing these comments, Mr Healey used his press conference remarks to tell Russian President Vladimir Putin “over to you”.
He said: “You say you want to talk. Prove it. Accept the ceasefire, start negotiations and end the war.
“Make no mistake, the pressure is now on Putin.”
Any future peace agreement is likely to require some form of security guarantee from the West, possibly in the form of a peacekeeping force stationed in Ukraine, which talks on the “coalition of the willing” are aimed at forming.
Sir Keir Starmer has previously talked of the need for a US “backstop” on security, and Mr Rubio acknowledged that Ukraine’s ability to discourage “further aggression” would likely feature in any talks.
In other developments:
– US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to travel to Moscow and put the deal directly to Mr Putin.
– Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was still awaiting “detailed information” on the proposal and it was important not to “get ahead” of how Mr Putin would respond.
– Nato secretary general Mark Rutte announced he would travel to Washington DC this week to discuss Mr Trump’s commitment to the alliance.
– Kyiv came under fire from a Russian air attack just hours after Ukraine signalled it would support the ceasefire deal.
– Russia said it regained more territory in the western Kursk region of the country, which Ukrainian forces invaded last summer in a bid to win a bargaining chip for future negotiations.
