UK ready to send troops to Ukraine to defend 'lasting peace'

LondonKeir Starmer takes a step forward in his commitment to the European continent and the integrity of Ukraine. Hours before the Informal meeting of European leaders The British Prime Minister, who summoned President Emmanuel Macron to Paris on Monday evening, announced that London could "deploy British troops on the ground, if necessary" to guarantee a "lasting peace" in Ukraine. Under no circumstances would they be there while there was fighting. In a very significant article published in the ultra-conservative daily Daily Telegraph, Very critical and harsh with Starmer's management since he came to power, the Labour leader said: "We are facing a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent. This is not just a question about the future of Ukraine, it is also an existential question for the whole of Europe."

In this context, and when the United States threatens to turn its back on Europe in hypothetical peace negotiations between Moscow and Washington that will see the first chapter this Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, the premier He says that “securing a lasting peace in Ukraine that protects its sovereignty in the long term is essential” if “we want to deter Putin from continuing aggression in the future.” He adds: “The United Kingdom is ready to play a leading role in accelerating work on security guarantees in Ukraine. This includes additional support for the Ukrainian military.” With this reasoning, the Labour leader assures that he will not only get involved with economic aid already committed to Volodymyr Zelensky, but also with the aforementioned troop presence.

"I do not say this lightly," Starmer continued, "I feel deeply the responsibility that comes with the possibility of endangering the British military. But any role in guaranteeing the security of Ukraine contributes to guaranteeing the security of our continent and the security of this country."

Starmer's intervention has different, complementary and perhaps contradictory readings. On the one hand, it is the recognition of the geostrategic situation of the Islands and an appeal to history and to the most glorious hour, in Churchill's words, of the resistance against the Nazis during the Second World War. The danger now is Putin and London does not want to shy away from a responsibility that links it to a heroic past. Thus, it puts pressure on the major countries of the Union to, hypothetically, join the peace force, in an attempt not to be left out of what seems to be an imminent start of negotiations. In this sense, France could also make a significant move. In the past, in fact, Macron had already hinted at the need to send a military force to Ukraine, although in a very different context to the current one, when there were no rumors of peace on the horizon.

"Weakness leads to war"

On the other hand, Starmer is trying to rebuild the bridges between Europe and Washington and is betting everything on the oft-repeated special relationship with the United States, strengthened precisely after the Second World War. In this sense, London's offer could be a way of facing the reality of the abandonment in which Europe would be left by the new policy of the Donald Trump administration. It would also be an attempt to appease the Republican's fury and contempt against the European Union, anticipating what already seems to be a possible conclusion of the conflict: that the White House and the Kremlin do their thing, and that Europe ends up paying the bill for security guarantees and the future reconstruction of Ukraine. On these and other points, as well as on the possible imposition of tariffs in the United Kingdom, Starmer will speak with Trump in the coming days, when he travels to the United States to meet with them.

Starmer will arrive in Washington with the mission of playing the role of hinge between the White House and Brussels, hoping that Trump does not slap him in the face with contempt. Not in vain, in the text published this Monday, he agrees with him when he says: that "Europe must do more to respond to the demands of its own security": "We must demonstrate that we take our own defence and our responsibility seriously. We have talked for too long and President Trump is right when he demands that we get down to business. As in euro TAN."

Another equally relevant paragraph in Starmer's article is when he refers to the fiasco of the United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan. "President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people have shown extraordinary resilience and made great sacrifices in the defence of their country. We cannot allow a repeat of the situation like Afghanistan, where the US negotiated directly with the Taliban and sidelined the Afghan government. I am sure President Trump will do the same. But managing the exit is left to Joe Biden. Afghans, and especially Afghan women, are still paying the price for the Western withdrawal.

Starmer's announcement also includes London's desire to see Ukraine join NATO, at least in the long term. A possibility that Trump's United States does not see as "real" for the moment, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who announced last week in Europe. premier He is a staunch, if also a realist, advocate: "While NATO membership may take time, we must continue to support Ukraine's irreversible path to the Alliance. We must also be more assertive in applying economic pressure. Putin's economy is suffering: he is worried about the future security of our continent. As I will say in Paris, peace is achieved through strength. But the opposite is also true: weakness leads to war," a phrase that also evokes Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement and Munich's meeting with Hitler in 1938.

No official statement is expected to come out of the Paris meeting. The European Union, NATO, France, Denmark, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain will be represented. It was precisely the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who this morning downplayed the possibility of European countries sending troops to Ukraine. "We must be very clear when we touch on such sensitive and serious issues: no one is currently considering sending troops to Ukraine," he told Onda Cero.

Albares, who spoke out after the United Kingdom's position, argued that for now it is not an option because the war is still underway. "Peace is still very far away," he said. In addition, he stressed that, if peace were to occur, "we have to see what peace we are talking about, what peace mandate will be given to a possible force and under what flag it would be."