British Prime Minister Starmer said on Sunday that Britain and France will work with Ukraine to develop a peace agreement and submit it to US President Trump. This is the latest effort by European leaders to get involved in the Russian-Ukrainian peace process after the breakdown of US-Ukraine talks.
Starmer said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Sunday morning (March 2): “Britain and France will work with Ukraine and possibly one or two other countries to develop a ceasefire plan, and then we will discuss this plan with the United States.”
He described it as “a step in the right direction” and stressed that all parties must find ways to cooperate and work together to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, “because we have experienced three years of bloody conflict and now we must achieve lasting peace.”
Starmer hopes that Europe can form a “coalition of the willing” to support Kiev, but at the same time, any ceasefire agreement must be backed by the United States to prevent Russian President Putin from invading Ukraine again. He proposed that the three major elements for achieving lasting peace are the backing of the United States, the security provided by European countries, and a strong Ukraine capable of resisting Russian invasion.
Starmer said he was uncomfortable with Ukrainian President Zelensky’s public quarrel with Trump and US Vice President Vance in the White House, but he believed Zelensky did nothing wrong. “The atmosphere was obviously tense. The cameras captured everything. No one wanted to see this.”
Late Wednesday, Starmer met with Italian Prime Minister Meloni at Downing Street. The two then went to Lancaster House to hold talks with Zelensky, French President Macron, German Chancellor Scholz, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and other leaders of various countries, as well as Turkish Foreign Minister Fedan, NATO Secretary-General Rutte, European Commission President von der Leyen and European Council President Costa.
When meeting with Starmer, Meloni stressed that it is very important for the West to avoid being divided over the Ukrainian issue. She pointed out that Britain and Italy can play an important role in bridging the differences. Polish Prime Minister Tusk also said before the summit that Poland can use its friendly relations with the United States to lobby the United States to provide more support for Ukraine.
German Foreign Minister: Trump and Zelensky’s dispute is a heavy reality
According to Bloomberg, citing anonymous British officials, Starmer will warn at the summit that European leaders must face up to the “cruel reality” and increase defense spending, because carefully crafted speeches are not enough to convince Trump to provide the security guarantees required by Europe.
German Foreign Minister Berbock also said on Saturday that the dispute between Trump and Zelensky is not a “nightmare” but a heavy reality, and pointed out that Trump reversed the roles of victims and aggressors in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Some analysts believe that Zelensky should be more tactful in the face of Trump. Fox News commentator and retired General Keane said: “No matter what the issue is, the only thing Zelensky should say in public is ‘Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, America’. Say it over and over again.”
US Democratic Senator Murphy said that no matter how good Zelensky’s diplomatic skills are or how much flattery he says, it is useless because Trump seeks a peace plan to “hand Ukraine over to Putin.”
Although Zelensky offended Trump, he has domestic support. Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Serski said that the Ukrainian army “stands with the Supreme Commander”. Although Ukraine’s main opposition leader and former President Roshenko questioned what Ukraine would do next, he indicated that he would not criticize Zelensky because Ukraine must be united at present.
Some Ukrainians also believe that Zelensky has made a big mistake. A retired old man told The Guardian: “He should have kept silent and just listened to Trump… I cried because the war will continue now.”
