British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces the formation of a 'Coalition of the Willing' for Ukraine
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that Britain and France are leading a “Coalition of the Willing” to provide military support to Ukraine, including deploying troops and aircraft, with the aim of securing Kiev’s position after a peace deal with Moscow is reached.
At an emergency summit in London on 2 March – which followed an unsuccessful visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington – Mr Starmer stressed the need for the EU and other donor countries to take a leading role in supporting Kiev.
He acknowledged that not every country could contribute much, but stressed that those who were ready needed to act urgently.
“Not every country can contribute, but that doesn’t mean we can sit back. On the contrary, those countries that are ready to support Kiev will step up their plans now with real urgency. The UK is ready to support with troops and aircraft,” Prime Minister Starmer told reporters.
French President Emmanuel Macron said European troops would only be deployed when it was safe for them on the ground. He proposed a “month-long temporary ceasefire” in the air, at sea and in energy infrastructure – an idea Moscow has previously dismissed as a Western ploy to rearm and strengthen Kiev.
“There will be no European army on Ukrainian territory in the coming weeks,” French President Macron said in an interview with Le Figaro. “The question is how to use this time to try to reach a ceasefire, with negotiations lasting several weeks, and then, when peace is concluded, to deploy the army.”
The summit was attended by many European leaders, in addition to British Prime Minister Starmer and French President Macron, there were also German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau did not rule out the possibility of deploying troops to Ukraine, stating that Ottawa “is considering the best ways to assist, and as I said a few days ago, all options are on the table.”
However, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni insisted that there were no concrete plans for the deployment of troops, stressing that “the presence of Italian troops in Ukraine has never been on the agenda.”
Polish Prime Minister Tusk noted that the leaders have yet to come up with a unified stance on security commitments to Ukraine or a “concrete plan” for negotiations with Russia.
“We all feel that at this point, no one has a clear plan, and the sense of chaos, the ad hoc approach… sometimes leads to awkward situations like what we saw in Washington a few days ago, which we all want to avoid,” Mr. Tusk said.
In a related development, Moscow firmly opposed the deployment of foreign troops (EU) to Ukraine without UN authorization, warning that these forces would be considered legitimate targets of Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the proposal to deploy troops – pushed mainly by France and Britain – was aimed at “adding fuel to the fire and blocking any efforts to de-escalate”.
