British prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said that peace in Ukraine would require the United States delivering a “backstop” to prevent further Russian attacks.
The statements were made during an emergency meeting of Russian leaders at Élysée Palace, where they discussed concerns that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is heading to Saudi Arabia to initiate peace talks with Russia alone.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the talks by saying that Kyiv had no knowledge of them and would not be recognising any potential peace deal made without Ukrainian involvement.
This follows recent comments from the U.S. defence secretary saying Europe would need handle the majority of its own defence from here on out, saying the States would no longer "tolerate an imbalanced relationship".
Starmer seemed to agree that Europe would "have to do more" to defend against any possible security challenges Russia poses but he remained firm that peace in Ukraine would not be possible without the “backstop” from the U.S and that this “security guarantee was the only way to effectively deter Russia”.
Starmer and Trump are due to meet in Washington DC next week where the British PM has promised to discuss “key elements” of this.