19th Feb 2025 11:16
(Alliance News) - Britain will "play our part" in pushing for security guarantees for Ukraine as part of any peace settlement, a minister said as Europe reels from Donald Trump blaming Kyiv for the war.
Diana Johnson said the UK has a "vested interest" in ensuring that the country is involved in negotiations over its own future amid fears of the US and Russia continuing to exclude the Ukrainian government from talks.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who will visit Washington next week, earlier this week urged America to provide a "backstop" to any settlement brokered between Kyiv and Moscow.
On Tuesday, Trump said the US does not "need" to deploy peacekeeping troops and suggested Ukraine "should never have started" the war.
Facing questions from broadcasters on Wednesday, policing minister Johnson declined to call out the US president's comments but said Britain was clear that Russia's invasion has been "an act of war against a sovereign state."
"We've also been very clear to say that Ukraine has to be part of any negotiations and yesterday the (US) secretary of state Marco Rubio was saying that European countries and of course Ukraine has to be part of any negotiations," she told Times Radio. "So I think the British position on this is very clear."
Asked whether the UK was heading for a collision with the US over its foreign policy following Starmer's commitment to consider sending peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, she told LBC: "I think it is really early days at the moment as to what is happening."
She added: "I think there's a long way to go on this, but I think the prime minister has been really clear that we will of course step up and do what we can to secure the security of Europe."
John Whittingdale, who sits on the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, described Trump's comments as "very disappointing and extremely worrying".
The Conservative former minister said: "They portray such a complete misunderstanding of how this war came about and if that is the stance he is going to take in the negotiations taking place with Putin then I'm filled with anxiety that this may result in a complete sellout of Ukraine.
"If that is his position going forward into those talks, then he's already conceded to Putin half of what Putin wants," Whittingdale added.
Britain has so far sought to strike a delicate balance between supporting Ukraine and keeping the White House, which has been holding talks with the Kremlin on ending the war, onside.
The prime minister will seek to bridge the gap between Europe and Washington as he flies to America for talks with Trump next week, when he is expected to make the case for US security guarantees.
Asked whether the UK government would call out Trump's latest remarks, Johnson said: "I'm a minister in the British government. I'm not commenting on what is coming out of the US, what the headlines are.
"What I do know is that the prime minister is working very hard at the moment to ensure that we play our part in making sure that the security guarantees around any negotiated deal are there.
"The prime minister has been to Paris this week to speak to European colleagues. He's going to America next week to speak to the president."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, along with allies across the continent, have insisted that Kyiv must have a seat at the table in discussions over its future.
Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida on Tuesday night, Trump said that he was "disappointed" Zelensky had complained about being left out of talks.
He suggested Ukraine should have been willing to make concessions to Russia before the 2022 invasion, adding: "Today I heard, 'Oh, well, we weren't invited'. Well, you been there for three years. You should have ended it three years (ago).
"You should have never started it. You could have made a deal."
Defence Secretary John Healey will travel to meet his Norwegian counterpart on Wednesday as Europe scrambles to respond to the turmoil over the future of Ukraine and the continent's wider security.
Healey and Tore Sandvik will meet as European leaders plot their next steps to ramp up defence spending in the face of pressure from the US.
On Tuesday, Healey said details of a US security guarantee for Ukraine are "being developed" and decisions made in the next few weeks will define "the security of our world for a generation".
He added: "We're in a new era of threat, and that demands a new era for defence, and in the middle of everything else, last week, the new defence secretary, Pete Hegseth from the US and I, made time to discuss the aims we share on defence reform."
The Defence secretary further stated that European nations know they "need to step up" on spending and have been "doing just that".
America and Russia kicked off talks earlier this week to broker a peace in Ukraine, led by US secretary of state Marco Rubio and Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
Ukraine was not invited to the negotiations which took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and concluded with ground rules set for further diplomacy.
European countries were also locked out of the talks.
Economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies have warned that increasing the UK's defence spending while maintaining other public services is likely to require additional tax rises by the government.
Ministers have repeatedly said they will wait until the conclusion of the strategic defence review before they outline how they will meet their commitment to raise defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product, a measure of national economic output.
By Nina Lloyd, PA Political Correspondent
Press Association: News
source: PA
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