British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has warned that Europe is at a "crossroads of history" in the face of Russian aggression. European leaders have pledged to rearm their militaries and turn Ukraine into a "steel hedgehog."
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03-04, 2025Fearing a possible end to U.S. support for Ukraine, leaders from several European countries met in London on Sunday to discuss plans to end the conflict. The UK and France have pledged to develop a peace plan with Ukraine to end the Russian invasion. Starmer stated that he would not "go down this road" if he did not have U.S. support.
Starmer also revealed a $3.2 billion plan for the UK to begin building air defense missiles in Northern Ireland to supply to Ukraine. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy also attended the summit. This came two days after he held a heated meeting with U.S. President Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office. Zelenskyy met with King Charles III at Sandringham Estate on Sunday.
Following the summit, Starmer said that Russia cannot be allowed to "dictate" the terms of a peace agreement with Ukraine. "Our starting point has to be to get Ukraine in as strong a position as possible now, so that they can negotiate from a position of strength," he said. "We are doubling down on our support."
Starmer said that European leaders have agreed to continue providing military assistance to Ukraine and maintain economic pressure on Russia, and hope to be part of a "coalition of the willing." "If a peace agreement is reached, we will continue to strengthen Ukraine's own defenses to deter any future invasion," he said. He also urged other European countries to pledge to send peacekeepers to Ukraine after a peace agreement is reached, warning that "we must learn from the mistakes of the past." He emphasized: "Britain stands ready, alongside other countries, to support this with boots on the ground and planes in the air. Europe must shoulder the heavy burden."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after the summit that security guarantees are crucial to turning post-war Ukraine into a "steel hedgehog that is difficult for potential invaders to digest." She said European countries need to "significantly increase" defense spending to "urgently rearm Europe." She said: "We are ready to defend democracy, defend the principles of the rule of law, and that you cannot invade or bully your neighbor, together with [the United States]."
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in an interview with the BBC that the NATO alliance between Europe and the United States remains "vibrant," but he added that relations with the United States are becoming more "transactional." He said the scenes that took place in the Oval Office on Friday resembled the conversations he had seen in closed-door meetings, but he acknowledged that the public scenes damaged the West and benefited Russia.
U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz dismissed claims in an interview with CNN that the meeting between Trump, Vance, and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office was an "ambush." Instead, he said Zelenskyy did not appear ready to "sincerely negotiate" steps to end the war.
Starmer said at the summit that he does not see the United States as an unreliable ally. As European leaders gathered in London, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov praised Trump's "common sense" goal of ending the war in Ukraine. Russian media and government officials were delighted by the confrontation between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Oval Office. "Donald Trump is a pragmatist," Lavrov told Russian military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda. "His slogan is common sense. This means, as everyone can see, turning to a different way of doing things."
Lavrov also dismissed the European idea of sending peacekeepers to Ukraine to guarantee its post-war security. He said Russia does not trust Ukraine after the collapse of previous ceasefire agreements aimed at ending the war by Russian-speaking separatists in eastern Ukraine. "Now they also want to use their bayonets, in the form of peacekeepers, to prop up [Zelenskyy]. This will mean that the root causes will not disappear," Lavrov said.
