With flattery and frank talk, Starmer urges Trump not to abandon Ukraine
in press to end Russian war
[February 28, 2025]
By JILL LAWLESS and AAMER MADHANI
WASHINGTON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer used a visit to
Washington on Thursday to press President Donald Trump not to abandon
Ukraine as he looks to find a quick endgame to Russia's bloody invasion
of its neighbor.
With a mix of flattery and frank talk, the center-left Starmer made the
case to the Republican president to remain cautious as he goes about
ending the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. The British
premier started the visit by delivering an invitation from King Charles
III to come to Scotland for a “historic” state visit — noting it was an
“unprecedented” honor since Trump already had been given the royal
treatment by Queen Elizabeth II during his first term.
“You’ve created a moment of tremendous opportunity to reach a historic
peace deal — a deal that I think would be celebrated in Ukraine and
around the world,” Starmer told Trump. “That is the prize. But we have
to get it right.”
Trump said that talks to end the grinding war are “very well advanced"
but also cautioned that there is only a narrow window to get a deal
done.
“If it doesn’t happen quickly, it may not happen at all,” Trump warned.
Starmer's visit came after French President Emmanuel Macron was in
Washington earlier this week to make a similar case to Trump, and a day
before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to visit the
White House. The British leader leaned into the idea that Trump was the
glue to maintaining the peace in Ukraine should the three-year war end.
The press by Starmer and Macron this week reflects the mounting concern
felt by much of Europe that Trump’s aggressive push to find an end to
the war signals his willingness to concede too much to Russian President
Vladimir Putin.
Some of Trump's comments during Starmer's visit may only add to Europe's
anxiety. The American leader expressed confidence that Putin won’t press
to restart the war if a truce can be reached.
“I think he’ll keep his word," Trump said of Putin. “I’ve spoken to him,
I’ve known him for a long time now, we had to go through the Russian
hoax together.”
The mention of “Russia hoax” is a reference to the FBI and Justice
Department special counsel investigation that examined whether Trump's
2016 presidential campaign illegally coordinated with Russia to sway the
outcome of the U.S. election.
Special counsel Robert Mueller found that although the Trump campaign
welcomed Russia’s help in the form of the release of hacked emails
stolen from Democrats, there was insufficient evidence to prove that the
campaign had colluded with Moscow.
After the joint new conference, Starmer was asked during an interview
with Fox News Channel if he was worried about Putin not living up to any
eventual agreement and responded, “I’m concerned about that because,
historically, that’s been the case.”
He said Putin’s history of reneging on agreements means that Britain and
the rest of Europe will have to join with the United States to make sure
the Russian president follows through this time.
“We all need to come together to defend the deal if there is a deal,”
Stramer said.
Trump's rapprochement with Russia has nonetheless unsettled America's
historic allies in Europe. They have found themselves on their heels
with Trump returning to the White House with a determination to
dramatically make over U.S. foreign policy to correspond with his
“America First” world view.
The Trump administration held talks last week with Russia without
Ukrainian or other European allies represented. And this week, the U.S.
refused to sign on to resolutions at the United Nations blaming Russia
for the war. The drifting White House view of Ukraine under Trump is
leading to a tectonic shift in transatlantic relations.
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By JILL LAWLESS and AAMER MADHANI
Starmer applauded Trump's push to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,
but also urged that “it can’t be peace that rewards the aggressor.”
“History must be on the side of the peacemaker, not the invader,”
Starmer said.
At their White House meeting, Trump and Zelenskyy are expected to
sign off on a contentious agreement that would give the U.S. access
to Ukraine's critical minerals, which are used in the aerospace,
defense and nuclear industries. Zelenskyy had chafed at a deal
without specific security guarantees from Washington.
Trump remains noncommittal about any coming American security
guarantees, and insists that Russia would think twice about
attacking again should the U.S. build an economic footprint in
Ukraine to extract critical minerals.
“We are a backstop because we’ll be over there, we’ll be working in
the country,” Trump said.
If a truce can be reached, Starmer and Macron have agreed to send
troops for a potential peacekeeping mission to Ukraine to ensure
that fighting between Ukraine and Russia doesn't flare up again.
But White House officials are skeptical that Britain and France can
assemble enough troops from across Europe, at least at this moment,
to deploy a credible peacekeeping mission to Kyiv.
Zelenskyy, while en route to Washington, met on Thursday with
Ireland's prime minister, Micheál Martin, who said he told Zelenskyy
that Ireland is open to helping, including sending peacekeepers to
Ukraine.
Zelenskyy and European officials have no illusions about U.S. troops
taking part in such a mission. But Starmer and others are trying to
make the case that the plan can only work with a U.S. backstop for
European forces on the ground — through U.S. aerial intelligence,
surveillance and support, as well as rapid-response cover in case of
breaches of a truce.
Trump is also looking at the moment as an opportunity to potentially
reopen economic relations with Russia after three years of U.S.-led
sanctions to punish Moscow for the invasion.
Starmer is hosting a Sunday meeting in the United Kingdom of
international leaders that will focus on Ukraine, and Zelenskyy is
expected to attend. The prime minister also announced plans this
week for the U.K. to bolster defense spending, something that should
sit well with Trump, who has been critical that European allies are
spending too little on defense.
Starmer's government will increase military spending to 2.5% of
gross domestic product by 2027, years earlier than expected, and aim
to reach 3% by 2035. The U.S. spends about 3.3% of its GDP on
defense.
“The disaster in Ukraine shows exactly why it’s so important for the
United Kingdom and other NATO partners to make large investments in
their defense capabilities,” Trump said. “You’re raising it quite a
bit, which is a great thing to do for your country. It’s a great
thing to do. It’s sad that we need that, but probably need that.”
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Associated Press writers Panagiotis Pylas in London and Eric Tucker
contributed to this report.
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