Starmer to speak to Trump about Ukraine plan challenged by Kyiv’s allies

Sir Keir Starmer has said he will talk to Donald Trump about his peace plan, which Ukraine’s allies have said needs revision, “in the coming days”.

The Prime Minister also expects to speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later on Saturday, a day before US, Ukrainian and European national security advisers (NSAs) gather in Switzerland to “go through quite a bit of detail” of the framework.

Sir Keir and other international leaders have pushed back against the US-drafted plan for Ukraine, raising concerns about proposals to make Kyiv limit its armed forces and give up territory and its path to Nato membership.

But the Labour leader said the inclusion of an “article five” security guarantee “fortifies” his belief that the US leader wants a “just and lasting peace”.

In a joint statement issued on Saturday, following their meeting at the Johannesburg G20 summit, the leaders called Washington’s plan drawn up secretly with Moscow “a basis which will require additional work”.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump indicated some room for negotiation in Geneva, saying “no” when asked whether his proposals were final.

Sir Keir told reporters in Johannesburg: “We are concerned about (caps on military) because it’s fundamental that Ukraine has to be able to defend itself if there’s a ceasefire.”

He said that the allies of Ukraine agreed that “there are elements in the 28-point plan which are essential to lasting peace, but it requires additional work, and that we are going to engage on that.”

“And that’s why there’s been the agreement that in Geneva tomorrow, you’ll have senior US personnel, you’ll have European NSAs, including the UK NSA, and obviously Ukrainians there to work further on the draft.”

UK NSA Jonathan Powell is understood to have left the G20 summit in South Africa early to head to Switzerland.

Mr Trump has said he wants a response to the peace plan from Ukraine by Thursday, while suggesting an extension could be possible.

Asked about whether that deadline is realistic, Sir Keir said: “Obviously, I think it should be done as soon as possible, but it’s got to be a just and lasting peace, and so we’ve got to get it right.

“I think we’ll be in a better position to know once the meeting in Geneva has taken place tomorrow, because that’s the opportunity for the US Ukraine and European NSAs to go through quite a bit of detail.”

Sir Keir appears not to have recently spoken to Mr Trump, who shunned the South Africa G20 summit.

Asked whether they had been in touch since the emergence of the peace plan, the Prime Minister told journalists: “I’m in touch with him fairly regularly, as you know, and I’ll no doubt talk to him in the coming days.”

The inclusion of an article five security guarantee – Nato’s mutual defence provision under which an attack on one member is an attack on the entire bloc – is seen as “integral and significant” to Washington’s plan, it is understood.

“That’s about the strongest guarantee that can be put forward.

“And so that fortifies in me the belief that what we’re all trying to achieve here is a just and lasting peace,” Sir Keir said.

Mr Trump’s actions and their “one-on-one” discussions on Ukraine had also made this “clear,” Sir Keir added.

The 28-point plan is said to have been negotiated by the US president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Kremlin representative Kirill Dmitriev, with Kyiv and European allies left out of the process.

Mr Witkoff, US secretary of state Marco Rubio and US army secretary Daniel Driscoll will attend the Geneva talks for Washington.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video address to his nation, said Ukrainian representatives at the talks in Switzerland “know how to protect Ukrainian national interests and exactly what is needed to prevent Russia from carrying out” another invasion.

“Real peace is always based on security and justice,” the Ukrainian leader added.

It emerged this week that the White House had been secretly forging a plan to end the conflict, with the issue dominating the G20 meeting designed to bring together the world’s leading economies.

The UK will host the global gathering in 2027, Sir Keir confirmed, saying it would allow Britain “to shape the global agenda once again” and drive economic growth.