British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Sunday that the United Kingdom and France will launch an initiative to develop a lasting peace plan for Ukraine, Azernews reported. This follows last week’s highly publicized tensions between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Speaking to the BBC, Starmer emphasized the importance of Europe stepping up its role in global diplomacy, especially in the context of the Ukrainian war, which began with the Russian invasion in February 2022. The British Prime Minister joined growing calls for European countries to take more responsibility for finding solutions to international crises, rather than relying heavily on the United States. “We have agreed that the UK will work with France and possibly one or two other countries to work with Ukraine on a plan to stop the war. We will then discuss this plan with the US,” Starmer said in a statement.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in heavy diplomatic traffic after a tense meeting in Washington with Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, Starmer said. After welcoming Zelensky to Downing Street, the British Prime Minister contacted both French President Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump to show unconditional support for Ukraine and try to repair strained relations between Kiev and Washington.
