U.K. to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, if needed, says PM Keir Starmer

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer willing to deploy troops in Ukraine, emphasizing U.S. security guarantee for lasting peace.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he is willing to deploy British peacekeeping troops in Ukraine if needed. His remarks come shortly before Trump administration officials are expected to meet Russian officials in Riyadh on Tuesday (February 18, 2025) to increase bilateral engagement and to discuss an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. The leaders of the EU and U.K. were not invited to the talks, meeting instead in Paris on Monday (February 17, 2025) to discuss the war and the negotiations.

Writing in the Telegraph newspaper, Mr Starmer said the U.K. was ready to play a leadership role in terms of security guarantees for Ukraine. This would not just mean continuing financial assistance to Kyiv, he said, but also “putting our own troops on the ground if necessary.”

Mr Starmer also wrote that Ukraine would had to have a place at the negotiation table. He also called for U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine and for European countries to do more for the security of the continent.

Mr Starmer warned that Europe was facing a “once in a generation” moment in terms of its security and an “existential” question not just for Ukraine but also Europe.

Mr Starmer said that in Paris he would tell his counterparts that Europe had to do more for its own security. Mr Trump has been pushing members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance to spend 5% annually of their GDP on defence, up from the guideline 2%. The UK’s figure is currently 2.3% , with plans to spend 2.5% of GDP, but without a set deadline reach that target.

“We have got to show we are truly serious about our own defence and bearing our own burden. We have talked about it for too long — and president Trump is right to demand that we get on with it,” Mr Starmer wrote.

The Prime Minister is also hoping to capitalize on a possibility that Mr Trump’s approach to the U.K. is different from his view of the EU, with US-EU ties fraying. Mr Trump had said that he liked Mr Starmer “a lot” at the end of January and the British Prime Minister is expected at the White House at the end of the month.