John Healey has urged Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to put “Ukraine’s voice” at the centre of any peace talks with Russia.
The US president stunned the West last night when he announced that he and the Russian president had “agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately” to end the Ukraine war.
But speaking to reporters ahead of a Nato meeting of his counterparts in Brussels today, the UK’s defence secretary made it clear that the occupied country should play a key role in the any discussions.
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.”
He noted that Russia “remains a threat well beyond Ukraine”, adding that his message to the UK’s allies “will be that there can be no negotiations about Ukraine without Ukraine and Ukraine’s voice must be at the heart of any talks”.
Pointing out that the UK has just sent a new £150m military aid package to Ukraine, the cabinet minister added: “The Ukrainians are fighting bravely. It’s our jobs as defence ministers here at Nato to put them in the best position to secure a lasting peace through strength.”
Trump’s latest remarks shocked the public, as the US and most of Europe have offered unwavering support to Ukraine ever since Putin invaded in February 2022, and broadly agreed to let Kyiv choose when it was time to push for peace.
But the US president is known to be more sympathetic to Putin than most other western leaders, and has repeatedly promised to end the war as soon as possible.
This has sparked fears he might pressure Ukraine to cede all of its occupied land – around 20% of its total territory – to Russia.
Trump did not say when he plans to meet with Putin face-to-face but has told the media they would meet in Saudi Arabia. He later claimed they would visit one another’s countries, too.
His defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, told reporters before the Nato meeting in Brussels that the US’s efforts to negotiate a peace deal were “certainly not a betrayal” of the Ukrainians.
He added that European nations have to provide the “overwhelming” share of funding for Ukraine.
The US has also suggested Kyiv is unlikely to return to its pre-2014 borders – when Putin seized the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea – under a peace deal.
Washington has implied there was not a realistic prospect of Ukraine joining Nato either, although Healey struck a more optimistic tone and told reporters it would just take “some time” before Kyiv could join the defence alliance.
He added that the focus “for now” should be on ensuring Ukraine was in a strong position ahead of potential peace negotiations.