The United Kingdom, France, and Ukraine agreed to negotiate a ceasefire plan for the Russia-Ukraine war and present it to the United States.
In a Sunday interview with the BBC, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the three countries will work swiftly on a proposal, hoping to "get us back to the central focus." The news came two days after a heated spat between President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office upended U.S.-Ukraine relations.
The British premier and French President Emmanuel Macron have been working heavily behind the scenes to restore relations between Trump and Zelensky.
“We’ve now agreed that the United Kingdom, along with France and possibly one or two others, will work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the fighting, and then we’ll discuss that plan with the United States,” Starmer said.
“The U.K. and France are the most advanced on the thinking of this and that is why President Macron and I are working on this plan, which we will then discuss with the U.S.,” he continued. “In other words, we’ve got to find those countries in Europe that are prepared to be a bit more forward-leaning.”
Starmer revealed his outline of the plan to end the war, which would involve France and the U.K. constructing a "coalition of the willing" to offer security guarantees to Ukraine after a ceasefire is signed.
"I’m not criticizing anyone here, but rather than move at the pace of ... every single country in Europe, which in the end would be quite a slow pace, I do think we’ve probably got to get to a coalition of the willing now," Starmer said.
The European coalition's insistence on European peacekeeping troops could mean any peace deal would be dead on arrival, as Russia has repeatedly stressed it would not accept any deal that includes stationing European troops in Ukraine. Most recently, on Wednesday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the prospect was "unacceptable."
"This approach, which is being imposed by the Europeans, primarily France, but also the British, is aimed at what I just mentioned: to further fuel the conflict and to stop any attempts to calm it down," he said during a visit to Qatar.
Further complicating matters was Starmer reiterating his insistence that any peace deal must include a U.S. security guarantee for Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly stated that the U.S. wouldn't provide any meaningful security guarantees.
"I'm not going to make security guarantees beyond very much. We're going to have Europe do that," Trump said in the first Cabinet meeting of his second term.
Zelensky's insistence on a U.S. security guarantee at Friday's meeting helped lead to the final blowup that torpedoed the planned critical minerals deal.
Starmer admitted that he felt "uncomfortable" at Friday's spat, saying, "Nobody wants to see that." However, he voiced his wish to move on from the incident.
"There are a number of different routes people can go down. One is to ramp up the rhetoric as to how outraged we all are or not," he said.
"Because my reaction was we have to bridge this, we have to find a way that we can all work together because in the end, we've had three years of bloody conflict now; we need to get to that lasting peace," Starmer continued.
Starmer said that he believes Trump "does want a lasting peace" in Ukraine, and that he can be trusted.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also signaled on Sunday that her country and the U.K. could “play an important role” to “build bridges.”
While the deal developed by the Europeans is unlikely to earn the approval of Russia or Trump, it could be a move to show that Zelensky is open to a peace deal of some sort. After removing him from the White House, Trump said that Zelensky "can come back when he is ready for peace.”
Other major European figures were less optimistic. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she was "horrified" by Friday's meeting.
“Many of you will have slept badly last night after watching the unspeakable video from the White House. Me too, to be honest," Baerbock said in a Saturday statement.
“Unfortunately, it was not just a bad dream, it is harsh reality. Today, we are more horrified than ever, but also more committed. More committed to the people in Ukraine, to our own security and to peace in Europe,” she added.
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Friday's meeting, and the European leaders' near-unanimous reactions siding with Zelensky, has strained relations with the U.S. to a point not seen in years. The European Union's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, even suggested that the "free world needs a new leader."
Europe's ability to usurp the U.S.'s role in the world is heavily in doubt, given it would require a boost in defense spending that would require the end of their welfare states.