27 March 2025 7:09pm

Kieran Kelly.  Iona Cleave.  Verity Bowman.  James CrispEurope Editor. Henry Samuel in Paris

British military chiefs will visit Ukraine in the coming days to help develop “operational” plans to enforce a future ceasefire, Sir Keir Starmer has announced, after rejecting Vladimir Putin’s demand to lift sanctions in return for a truce.

Sir Keir said that defence top brass would travel to Ukraine with French and German counterparts to discuss the implementation of a European “reassurance force” to deter future Russian aggression. He said Europe was mobilising on a scale “not seen for decades” to sustain a future peace deal in Ukraine. 

The Prime Minister warned that now is “not the time” to ease pressure on Russia, putting him at odds with Donald Trump, the US president, who agreed to the Kremlin’s demands that international sanctions be lifted in return for the partial truce in the Black Sea.

Instead, Sir Keir demanded that Putin be given a deadline of “days and weeks” to commit to a lasting peace after co-hosting a summit of the “coalition of the willing” nations with Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Thursday. 

The Prime Minister and French president have spearheaded a push for a European force backed by US security guarantees since Mr Trump began direct negotiations with Putin. 

Sir Keir said: “We will be ready to operationalise a peace deal whatever its precise shape turns out to be, and we will work together to ensure Ukraine’s security so it can defend and deter against the future.”

He said that Parliament would get a vote on any plans to deploy British troops to Ukraine on a long-term basis. 

Mr Macron said “that a Franco-British team should be sent to Ukraine in the next few days to work very closely with our Ukrainian partners”.

Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is leading US ceasefire negotiations with Ukraine and Russia, dismissed the reassurance plans as “a posture and a pose” last week. 

In Paris, Volodymyr Zelensky said Mr Witkoff was living on a “different planet” to Ukraine. 

Mr Macron said that Europe would send troops to Ukraine, with or without the US. 

Washington remained a “reliable ally”, he said, but peace plans could not solely rely on the US.

Mr Macron said it was not up to Moscow to decide what happened in sovereign Ukraine.

Earlier, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman accused Sir Keir and Mr Macron of plotting “military intervention” in Ukraine and Britain of attempting to drag the EU into a “bloodbath”.

Their “golden dream” was to push European countries into an “Anglo-Saxon coalition”, Maria Zakharova said, warning they risked direct confrontation between Russia and Nato. 

Mr Macron said troops from “several member states” would be deployed in “strategic areas” rather than along the contact line. 

European foreign ministers have been given three weeks to draw up plans to enforce a future ceasefire.

There are more than 200 planners from 30 countries involved in developing the reassurance force, though not everyone will send troops.

The idea of the renamed “reassurance force” has divided European nations, with Italy and Poland insisting they will not send troops to Ukraine, but Mr Macron said they did not need “unanimity” to go ahead. 

Mr Macron accused Putin of only “pretending” to want peace, while Mr Zelensky said he was “not ready” for direct negotiations with Ukraine. 

“What can a man who wants war say at peace talks?” Mr Zelensky said. “I’m not going to swallow his narrative. I’m not interested.”

“It is clear the Russians are playing games,” Sir Keir said, accusing Moscow of “dragging their feet” in negotiations. 

“It is a classic from the Putin playbook,” he said. 

“I don’t want to put a hard deadline on this but we need to see this developing in days and weeks, not months and months.”

The suspicion is that Putin is spinning out the negotiations to take as much Ukrainian territory as possible before a peace deal is reached. 

The US president offered to get international sanctions on Moscow dropped in return for a ceasefire in Black Sea on Tuesday. 

The EU warned on Wednesday it will only remove its measures if Russia pulls out of Ukrainian territory entirely. 

Mr Trump has ignored European demands for a seat at the negotiating table, which Mr Zelensky repeated in Paris, but may now be forced to involve them. 

On Thursday, Sir Keir said he agreed that economic pressure on Russia needed to be “ramped up” not weakened. 

“There was a very strong resolve across the room that now is not the time for pulling back or weakening old sanctions,” he said.

“On the contrary, now is the time for increasing sanctions on Russia.”

Mr Zelensky told reporters that the gathered leaders of the 31 countries had decided that “Europe will be represented by France and Britain – Starmer and Macron”. 

‘Signal to US’

“This is a clear position and we would like to send this signal” to the US, he added.

“He really wants to divide Europe and America, Putin really wants that,” the Ukrainian president said, adding Kyiv wanted Washington to be “stronger” towards the Kremlin.

He demanded Washington respond to what he called Moscow’s violation of a commitment not to strike Ukrainian energy targets. 

He also said the terms of the minerals deal with the US was “in flux” and that he had no plans to visit Washington after the summit. 

Georgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, has dismissed the peacekeeping force plans as “risky, complex and ineffective”. Italian media suggested Rome prefers the idea of a UN-led force. 

Ms Meloni, who has sought to position herself as a bridge between the US and Europe, said she hoped the Americans would attend the next meeting of the “coalition of the willing”.

Meanwhile, Greece has reportedly committed to sending troops to Ukraine but will immediately withdraw them if Russia violates the ceasefire. 

Greece willing to send troops to Ukraine – with important caveat

Greece has committed to sending troops to Ukraine as part of a “reassurance force” but will immediately withdraw them if Russia violates a ceasefire, according to local media reports.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, raised this condition at today’s European summit in Paris. He also said Greece would only participate if there was a ceasefire deal which did not involve entering Russian territory.

It raises questions about what purpose Greek troops would serve in Ukraine.

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron confirmed earlier today that European troops would be stationed in Ukraine to enforce any future peace deal.