Donald Trump has been warned that “appeasing” Russian dictator Vladimir Putin by allowing him to keep captured Ukrainian territory will lead to more wars.
Former Defence Secretary Sir Ben Wallace said Mr Putin “will rearm and he will be back” while John Bolton, Mr Trump’s former national security adviser, said: “They’re drinking vodka straight out of the bottle in the Kremlin tonight.”
And Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer insisted Ukraine must be “at the heart” of any peace talks, after the US President held a private telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart about how to end the conflict.
A long-planned meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels was overshadowed by Mr Trump’s shock announcement that he and Mr Putin have agreed to end three years of bloodshed in Ukraine following a “lengthy and highly productive” discussion. The US President then called Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky “to inform him of the conversation”.
Alarmed European leaders insisted that Ukraine must be included in peace talks rather than having a deal imposed on it. Sir Keir said: “There can’t be negotiations around Ukraine without Ukraine being at the heart of it.
“And it’s really important that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position, whether that’s in discussions, or whether it’s continued fighting.”
There was concern over comments by Pete Hegseth, the US Defence Secretary, who said it was “unrealistic” for Ukraine to expect to regain all the territory it has lost to Russia since 2014, when Mr Putin first invaded his neighbour.
Keir Giles, Senior Consulting Fellow at foreign policy institute Chatham House, compared Mr Trump’s proposed deal to failed attempts by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to avoid war with Nazi Germany in the 1930s. He said: “It’s peace in the same way that Munich 1938 promised peace on an entirely false premise, that you can appease an aggressor by trying to buy them off with giving them part of the territory of their victim and hope that means some sort of sustainable peace, but of course it does not because it encourages greater aggression.”
A larger war in Europe is “several steps closer now”, he said.
Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said the UK must be ready to go to war with Russia and urged the Government to step up defence spending. He said: “We must be ready to fight a war with Russia if necessary, in order to be able to deter Russia.”
Concerns were shared across Europe with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, former Prime Minister of Estonia, saying: “Why are we giving them everything that they want even before the negotiations have been started? It’s appeasement. It has never worked.”
The UK is also at loggerheads with the US over Ukrainian membership of NATO, with Downing Street insisting that Ukraine should have the right to join the defence pact despite Washington ruling it out.
Mr Zelenskyy responded diplomatically to the US initiative, saying: “I had a long and detailed conversation with President Trump. I appreciate his genuine interest in our shared opportunities and how we can bring about real peace together.”
But there was jubilation in Moscow, where Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti said in an opinion column: “The US finally hurt Zelensky for real.”
Mr Trump plans to continue talks with Mr Putin at a face-to-face meeting in Saudi Arabia but British politicians said allowing Russia to “win” would lead to more bloodshed in the long run.
Conservative Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said: “If Putin is seen to somehow win from any settlement, that may bring a temporary end to the conflict but it will not make the word a safer place, Far from it.
“This would be an illusion of peace likely to send a very dangerous signal to other potential adversaries.”
Former Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt said: “You also have to be wide eyed to the fact that if you are ceding territory to an aggressor, that will be seen as rewarding the aggressor, it will be seen as a victory.”
The US also hinted that countries such as the UK and France, the major military powers in Europe, could be expected to play a significant role in any peacekeeping force sent to Ukraine. Mr Hegseth said “capable European and non-European troops” could be deployed but these would not include US forces and would not be under NATO command.
Britain is to spend £4.5billion on military support for Ukraine this year and earlier this week announced an addition £150million of new supplies including drones, tanks and air-to-air missiles.
Defence Minister Angela Eagle told the House of Commons: “We want to see a durable peace and no return to conflict and aggression. That’s the only way in which this war can end with the kind of security that President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have referred to.”