Sir Keir Starmer is taking a Ukraine peacekeeping plan to US president Donald Trump next week that will include less than 30,000 European troops to monitor any ceasefire deal Russia may agree to.
Starmer is due to visit the White House next week, and is expected to detail to the American leader an Anglo-French strategy for a ‘reassurance force’ made up of members of European militaries that would be placed far from the current frontlines.
This force would rely on ‘technical monitoring’, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, drones and satellites to provide a ‘complete picture of what is going on’, a Western official told the Telegraph.
The official added, however, that the peacekeeping force would be backed up by ‘enough firepower to monitor and shoot’ any Russian attacks down.
Naval patrol vessels would also be sent to the Black Sea to monitor Russian threats to the waters around Ukraine.
The plan falls significantly short of the 200,000 troops requested by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in the event of a ceasefire.
But it may be the best that Zelensky will get the American president to agree to, given the mudslinging match he has found himself in.
Writing on his platform Truth Social, Trump shared an extraordinary and length tirade, condemning both Zelensky and the billions in aid the Biden administration had given Ukraine during Russia’s bloody war on the country.
‘Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the US and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle,’ Trump wrote.
‘I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died – And so it continues…’ he posted.
He complained that the US was giving Kyiv more funds than European nations were, despite their proximity to the war, and said that Zelensky had played Joe Biden ‘like a fiddle’.
In what appeared to be a thinly-veiled threat, Trump went on to say that ‘Zelensky better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left.’
Trump, who has abandoned the US policy of isolating Moscow, said his administration is ‘successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do.’
He claimed that ‘Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going.’
Doubling down on earlier unfounded claims that Zelensky was only supported by four per cent of Ukrainians, Trump added that the President ‘refuses to have Elections’ and ‘is very low in Ukrainian Polls’.
Trump later added as he headlined Wednesday’s FII Priority Summit in Miami Beach that Zelensky was a ‘dictator’ and a ‘comedian’ who cratered his country.
‘How can you be high when every city is being demolished?’ Trump mused, wondering how Zelensky could survive the elections the U.S. president is demanding be held in the war-torn country.
‘The only thing he was good at was playing Joe Biden like a fiddle,’ Trump added as he rambled about the war in Ukraine.
He said ‘a dictator without elections, Zelensky better move fast or he’s not going to have a country left.’
The war of words was so bitter that last night, Keir Starmer last night compared Zelensky to Winston Churchill and defended him from the Republican president.
According to Downing Street, Starmer spoke with the Ukrainian leader and affirmed his support for him as the country’s ‘democratically elected leader’,
Number 10 added that Starmer also told Zelensky that it was ‘perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime, as the UK did during World War II.’
During his call with Zelensky, Number 10 said Starmer ‘stressed the need for everyone to work together’, and ‘reiterated his support for the US-led efforts to get a lasting peace that deterred Russia from any future aggression’.
In the wake of the tirade, many heavily criticised Trump for his remarks.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Zelensky ‘is not a dictator. He is the democratically elected leader of Ukraine who bravely stood up to Putin’s illegal invasion.’
But she added that Trump ‘is right that Europe needs to pull its weight – and that includes the UK.’
She added: ‘We need to get serious. The PM will have my support to increase defence spending – there is a fully funded plan to get to 2.5% sitting on his desk.
‘That should be the bare minimum. Starmer should get on with it, get on a plane to Washington and show some leadership. We cannot afford to get this wrong.’
Former prime minister Boris Johnson, who became a close ally of Mr Zelensky while in office, said several of Mr Trump’s claims were wrong. But he also urged European leaders to ‘stop being scandalised’ about the US President’s comments and ‘start helping him to end this war.’
He added: ‘Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action. In particular the US can see $300billion of frozen Russian assets – mainly in Belgium. That is cash that could and should be used to pay Ukraine and compensate the US for its support.
‘Why is Europe preventing the unfreezing of Putin’s cash? The US believes Belgium, France and other countries are blocking. It’s absurd. We need to get serious and fast.’
Former British justice secretary David Gauke tonight compared the American president to AI.
He said: ‘If you’d asked AI to write a piece of Russian propaganda in the style of Donald Trump, this is what you’d get.
‘Well done America, you’ve elected a Russian asset as your president.’
Former foreign secretary James Cleverly, meanwhile, said: ‘The UK and US must send the message that we don’t let tyrants win.’
Others were more scathing. Former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace said: ‘I know Mar-a-Lago is quite close to Disney World, but that was pure Disney in both sort of facts and reality.
‘I think the Kremlin have been pretty happy since day one. If the White House is repeating those sort of propaganda lines that Ukraine started the war etc. then of course they’ll be really happy that people are rewriting history.’
Zelensky last night flatly dismissed Donald Trump’s proposed £400billion ‘payback’ deal for Ukraine, vowing: ‘I can’t sell our state.’
The Ukrainian president branded the offer ‘not a serious conversation’ amid anger over the US President’s outlandish claim that Kyiv ‘started’ the war with Russia.
Zelensky also railed against any US-Russia agreement that would force Ukraine to hold elections before any peace deal is reached, saying attempts to topple him ‘won’t work’.
He accused Mr Trump of being in a ‘disinformation bubble’, adding: ‘We understand it is coming from Russia.’
A reported draft contract drawn up by Mr Trump’s administration would give the US rights over the war-torn country’s infrastructure, as well as gas and oil reserves and mineral resources.
If true, it would see Ukraine trade access to resources and industries in return for Washington’s support after Russia ends its bloody invasion.
The US would also take half of all recurring revenues received by Ukraine from these resources and half of the financial value of ‘all new licences issued to third parties’ in the future.
Trump has said he wants a deal with Ukraine to supply him with rare earth minerals as ‘equalisation’ for the money the US has sent to Ukraine, which he claims is $350billion dollars but in reality is actually $174.2 billion as of last month, according to the US Congress’ own Congressional Research Service.
Under the contract’s terms, Ukraine would suffer more stringent financial penalties than those imposed on Germany and Japan following the Second World War – despite having been the victim of Russian aggression.
Speaking in Kyiv yesterday, after returning from a trip to Turkey, a visibly irked Zelensky dismissed the plan.
He said: ‘The US gave to date $66billion on weapons plus financial support for the budget.
‘It’s not $500billion (£400billion) back in minerals [in return]…that’s not a serious conversation.
‘I am protecting Ukraine. I can’t sell it away. I can’t sell our state.’