The UK has been playing down French proposals for a month-long partial ceasefire in Ukraine after a crisis summit.
Emmanuel Macron floated the idea following a weekend of frantic diplomacy that culminated in the gathering in London yesterday.
European leaders and Canada assembled to try to thrash out a response after the extraordinary White House bust-up between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
Mr Macron told Le Figaro that France and Britain were looking at a temporary truce that would cover air, sea and energy infrastructure – but not fighting on the ground as it would be ‘very difficult to verify’.
Mr Zelensky said he was ‘aware of everything’ when asked about the plan. Kyiv has repeatedly warned that Vladimir Putin will just break a ceasefire deal.
However, Downing Street sounded cool on the concept, with insiders insisting there were ‘various options on the table’ and it ‘has not been agreed’. Ministers said they did not ‘recognise’ the specific proposal.
Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky has moved to try to cool the feud with Mr Trump, heaping praise on the support the US has given up to now.
He also told reporters after the summit that Ukraine was still ‘ready to sign’ the minerals deal, and he would return to the Oval Office for discussions.
The Kremlin dismissed the prospect as ‘insolent’, saying that the Western allies were ‘throwing around ideas’.
Sir Keir is expected to make a Commons statement today after his blitz of high-stakes diplomatic action last week.
MPs will be updated on his meeting with Mr Trump in Washington, as well as the emergency defence summit of European leaders.
Sir Keir told European powers they need to do the ‘heavy lifting’ in enforcing any peace deal with Russia, warning they stand at a ‘crossroads in history’.
He committed £1.6billion towards helping Ukraine purchase 5,000 missiles for its defence and invited European leaders to join a ‘coalition of the willing’ led by Britain and France.
Asked about the ceasefire plan, armed forces minister Luke Pollard told Times Radio: ‘No agreement has been made on what a truce looks like, and so I don’t recognise the precise part you mentioned there.
‘But we are working together with France and our European allies to look at what is the path to how… we create a lasting and durable peace in Ukraine.’
Pressed again on whether the UK and France had presented the summit on Sunday with a plan for a month-long ceasefire, he said: ‘You wouldn’t expect me to get into the details of what that plan looks like, because at the moment, the only person that would benefit from those details being put in the public domain before any plan is agreed would be President Putin.’
America is attempting to negotiate an end to hostilities directly with Russia but Sir Keir has insisted European countries must play a key role in enforcing a peace deal and deter Vladimir Putin from breaking it.
The Ukrainian president received a warm welcome to 10 Downing Street on Saturday that contrasted with his fractious encounter in the Oval Office a day before.
That led to him cutting short a trip to the US in which he was supposed to sign a minerals deal with Mr Trump, exchanging rights to natural resources for further American military support.
The bust-up between the two presidents in the Oval Office that was broadcast around the world saw them – and American vice president JD Vance – talking over one another in raised voices.
Mr Trump accused Mr Zelensky of ‘gambling with world war three’ and said he had not expressed enough thanks for US aid in defending his country against Mr Putin’s invasion.
The spat exposed a raw divide between the US and its European Nato allies, who rallied to Mr Zelensky’s side.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social early this morning, Mr Trump urged his followers to ‘spend less time worrying about Putin’ and ‘more time worrying about migrant rape gangs, drug lords, murderers, and people from mental institutions entering our Country – So that we don’t end up like Europe’.
Sir Keir told the BBC he had sought to act as a ‘bridge’ and end the feuding, after he held multiple phone calls with Mr Trump, Mr Zelensky and Mr Macron over the weekend.
In a post of his own on X, Mr Zelensky expressed gratitude to Europe and America for the support his country has received since the outbreak of the conflict, but stressed there could be no peace deal without security guarantees.
He wrote: ‘As a result of these days, we see clear support from Europe. Even more unity, even more willingness to cooperate.
‘Everyone is united on the main issue – for peace to be real, we need real security guarantees. And this is the position of all of Europe – the entire continent. The United Kingdom, the European Union, Turkiye.
‘Of course, we understand the importance of America, and we are grateful for all the support we’ve received from the United States. There has not been a day when we haven’t felt gratitude.
‘It’s gratitude for the preservation of our independence – our resilience in Ukraine is based on what our partners are doing for us – and for their own security.
‘What we need is peace, not endless war. And that’s why we say security guarantees are the key to this.’