The UK is to “accelerate the pace and scale” of its military planning to be ready to support Ukraine, with No 10 saying all options, including troops on the ground, are possible.
Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said thousands of troops would be needed to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire and agreement to end the war with Russia, whether by “sea, on land or in the air”.
“We will continue to accelerate the pace and scale of operational planning with further meetings at our Northwood headquarters as we look closer at the detail and structure of any future force,” he said on Friday.
“As we look at force structures, we need to consider the best capabilities to meet the specific threats that Ukraine faces. Not all the countries in the coalition will have capabilities for Ukraine but might have the capability for other deployments which would free up other nations to deploy to Ukraine.”
The intensive UK planning across three days next week is likely to consider whether British troops could be moved from current deployments to support Ukraine, with troops from other nations backfilling the existing UK deployments.
The plans will be discussed before a further meeting of the “coalition of the willing” – the group of countries preparing to back Ukraine – in Paris on Thursday.
Starmer on Thursday met military officials from 31 countries involved in planning how the coalition of countries might work in practice to support Ukraine. Countries represented included France, Poland, the Netherlands, Romania, Canada and Australia.
After the meeting, the prime minister warned Vladimir Putin he would face “severe consequences” if he breached any peace deal.
Asked whether the focus of discussions had shifted away from the prospect of ground troops for Ukraine, a No 10 spokesperson said: “No, nothing is off the table on any of these fronts, so I wouldn’t start ruling anything out.
“Clearly, thousands of troops will be required to support any deployment, whether that is at sea, on land or in the air.”
The Financial Times had reported on Thursday that Starmer’s focus had shifted to air and sea support, stressing that Ukraine itself had the capability, the numbers and the frontline experience on the ground.
The spokesperson said deployment would require significant support and the firming up of “basic logistics of … moving people and ensuring deployment rotations, so, as the PM said, we need to be prepared for all eventualities”.
Delegations from Kyiv, Moscow and Washington are expected to meet in Saudi Arabia on Monday for further peace talks.
At the same time, European and Commonwealth allies are seeking to pressure the Russian president as he resists accepting in full a US- and Ukraine-backed deal, as well as ensuring a peacekeeping plan is in place if an agreement is reached.
Moscow has agreed to pause attacks on Ukrainian power plants after a phone call between Putin and the US president, Donald Trump, but Kyiv has said civilian targets including hospitals have since been struck.
Starmer was expected to have a call with non-EU countries and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Friday about updates that have been discussed at EU level.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymr Zelenskyy, has said he is hopeful a “lasting peace can be achieved this year” after he spoke on the phone with Trump on Tuesday, though he rebuffed a suggestion that Washington could take ownership of Ukrainian power plants to ensure their security.
