There can be no negotiation on ending the war in Ukraine “without Ukraine”, the UK defence secretary has declared.
The comments come after US president Donald Trump said he and Russian premier Vladimir Putin had agreed to start negotiations on ending the war “immediately”.
Responding to Trump’s comments on Wednesday, John Healey described Nato’s job as to “put Ukraine in strongest possible position for any talks.”
Speaking to reporters, Healey said: “We’ve seen the calls from president Trump overnight and we all want to see a durable peace and no return to conflict and aggression.
“And let’s not forget, Russia remains a threat well beyond Ukraine.”
Donald Trump had a 90-minute phone call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, leading to a series of major announcements. After the discussion, the US president said he and Putin agreed that talks to end the war in Ukraine should start “immediately”.
“We each talked about the strengths of our respective nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together”, Trump said in a social media post. “But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.”
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Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky also had an hour-long phone call with Trump. Zelensky said they “agreed to maintain further contact and plan upcoming meetings”.
In comments delivered earlier on Wednesday, the new US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said it is “unrealistic” for Ukraine’s borders to return to what it was like before Russia invaded Crimea in 2014. Trump later endorsed Hegseth’s comments.
Hegseth also said the US would no longer “tolerate an imbalanced relationship” with its allies and called on Nato members to spend much more on defence.
“Safeguarding European security must be an imperative for European members of Nato,” the US defence secretary said. “Europe must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and non-lethal aid to Ukraine.”
Healey insisted the UK had “heard a clear message from the US about stepping up and we are”, pointing to a new £150 million package of military aid including drones, tanks and air defence systems for Ukraine.
The comments come as Nato defence ministers gather in Brussels for the first day of a summit.
Healey told reporters ahead of the meeting that “my message… will be that there can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine and Ukraine’s voice must be at the heart of any talks.”
“The Ukrainians are fighting bravely”, he said. “It’s our jobs as defence ministers here at Nato to put them in the best position to secure a lasting peace through strength.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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Source: Politics
