Sir Keir Starmer and five other European leaders will accompany Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington tomorrow, in a major show of unity ahead of peace talks with Donald Trump. The Ukrainian war leader will land in the US as he returns to the White House after President Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
Speaking ahead of the crunch summit, Mr Zelenkyy insisted that "Washington is with us", as the United States announced plans to offer Ukraine a NATO-style security guarantee to enforce a ceasefire. He said: "It's crucial that Europe is as united now as it was at the very beginning, as it was in 2022 when the full-scale war began. This unity really helps to reach real peace, and it must stay strong." Keir Starmer will be among the European leaders accompanying Mr Zelenskyy, in a hastily planned last-minute trip, along with the leaders of France, Germany, the EU Commission, Finland and Italy.
Speaking at the virtual 'Coalition of the Willing' summit yesterday, Sir Keir said any discussions on the future of Ukraine must involve Mr Zelenskyy, and not be negotiated behind closed doors by America and Russia.
Ending his remarks, the Prime Minister revealed that the Coalition of the Willing's military planning is now at an advanced stage, as European countries aim to offer their own troops and military supplies to enforce any peace settlement.
Mr Zelenskyy outlined three key demands he plans on making in Washington, including an immediate ceasefire to end killings while the peace is negotiated; an end to Mr Putin's demand to take control of Ukrainian regions the Russian army does not currently hold; and a need to provide specific details about how a security guarantee would work.
Mr Putin is asking for a huge swathe of Ukrainian land as his price for peace, however Mr Zelenskyy argued that his country's constitution "makes it impossible to give up territory or trade land.
While he hinted that some concessions could be made, "it should be discussed only by the leaders of Ukraine and Russia".
Yesterday an official intelligence briefing from the UK Ministry of Defence slapped down Mr Putin's demand for Ukrainian troops to withdraw from four eastern oblasts as part of the peace settlement, arguing that Russian troops would take another 4.4 years of war to control the areas at their current pace of advance.
It also forecast that based on current troop loss rates, Russia would see 1.9 million die attempting to take control of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions by force.
French president Emmanuel Macron said the goal for tomorrow's crunch talks is to "present a united front between Ukraine and its European allies."
He warned: "If we show weakness today in front of Russia, we are laying the ground for future conflict."
In a major sign of hope for Ukraine, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff revealed that President Putin has granted a major concession by allowing America and European countries to offer Ukraine a NATO-style security guarantee.
He compared the planned security guarantee to NATO's Article 5, which means an attack on a member country is treated as an attack on all members and sparks immediate military reprisals.
Mr Witkoff said: "We were able to win the following concession: that the United States could offer article five, like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in Nato, we sort of were able to bypass that and get an agreement that the United States could offer article five protection, which was the first time we had ever heard the Russians agree to that."
Details about the US security guarantee remained vague, though the concession could mean that the US would be duty-bound to enter the conflict should President Putin violate any peace settlement.
Mr Zelenskyy insisted that the US guarantee "must be truly very practical and provide protection on land, in the air, and at sea."
While the announcement offered hope to both Mr Zelenskyy and European leaders, a split emerged over a planned new wave of financial sanctions against Russia.
Sir Keir used the Coalition of the Willing meeting to press the importance of squeezing the Russian war machine further and inflict maximum pressure on Mr Putin to end the fighting.
However US Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued further sanctions will not force Mr Putin's hand.
Mr Rubio argued: "They're already under very severe sanctions... The minute you issue new sanctions, your ability to get them to the table, our ability to get them to the table will be severely diminished. That moment may arrive.
"But when it comes, what you're basically signalling is 'There is no opportunity for peace at this point. So just let's put on more sanctions and allow more people to get bombed and more people to be killed'. And that's what we're trying to stop."
Should tomorrow's visit prove successful, it's believed President Trump wants a three-way trilateral meeting between himself, Mr Putin and Mr Zelenskyy as soon as August 22.
