Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Volodymyr Zelensky, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Czech Republic's Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Romania's Interim President Ilie Bolojan, Turkey's Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Finland's President Alexander Stubb, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte attend the European leaders' summit to discuss European security and Ukraine, at Lancaster House in London, Britain, March 2, 2025. [Photo/Agencies]
United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it is time for European countries to take the lead in building a "coalition of the willing" to support Ukraine and bring lasting peace to the country.
A summit in London on Sunday saw Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meet national leaders from across Europe, as well as figures including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Mark Rutte, secretary-general of the NATO military alliance.
The summit came following Zelensky's fractious meeting with United States President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, but Starmer insisted that he "did not accept that the US is an unreliable ally", and it had a key role to play in any European-led peace plan.
Europe must do the heavy lifting, he said, "but for this to succeed it must have strong US backing", adding that he spoke to Trump before Sunday's summit.
"I would not be taking this step down this road if I didn't think that it was something that would yield a positive outcome in terms of ensuring that we move together — Ukraine, Europe, the UK and the US — together towards a lasting peace," said Starmer, calling the current situation "a crossroads in history … time to unite around a new plan for a just and enduring peace".
Starmer set out a four-step plan towards reaching this goal, beginning with keeping military aid flowing, and increasing economic pressure on Russia.
Any lasting peace, he said, must be reached with Ukraine at the negotiating table, and ensuring its sovereignty and security. Following any such deal, Ukraine's own defense capability must be strengthened as a future deterrent, with the new proposed coalition to defend the deal and guarantee the peace.
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He also said the UK government would allow Ukraine to use 1.6 billion pounds ($2 billion) of UK export finance to buy more than 5,000 air defense missiles.
Earlier, Starmer had said that the UK and France, whose President Emmanuel Macron also visited the White House last week, would take the lead in working with Ukraine to draw up a ceasefire plan for the conflict with Russia, which can then be presented to Trump.
As she left the summit, von der Leyen said it had been a "good and frank discussion" with communal security high on the agenda.
"We have to have a surge in defense... We really have to step up massively," she said, adding that it was "now of utmost importance we increase spending... It's important we prepare for the worst".
Starmer has been vocal in his commitment to long-term support for Ukraine but has also maintained a more optimistic outlook towards Washington than some other European countries, particularly since Zelensky's White House visit.
In an interview with the BBC before Sunday's meeting, Starmer said "we've got to find those countries in Europe that are prepared to be more forward-leaning… the UK and France are the most advanced in the thinking on this … this is not an exclusion, the more the better in this, but we need to move to a quicker, more agile way of moving forward".
He said he believed Trump was committed to a "lasting peace" in Ukraine, and if a deal could be reached that was acceptable to him, "that means a line is agreed — the terms of the deal — and then that line is defended".
"If there is to be a deal, if there is to be a stopping of the fighting, then that agreement has to be defended," Starmer added.
