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4 hours ago
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Keir Starmer has urged world leaders to “double down” in their efforts to support Ukraine during a visit to Poland, days before Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency risks jeopardising international solidarity on the issue.
Speaking alongside the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, after the pair discussed a proposed defence-focused treaty, Starmer dodged questions on the possible impact of Trump, but insisted the only way forward was “peace on Ukraine’s terms”.
He also faced a slightly awkward moment as Tusk, who was president of the European Council for much of the Brexit period, said it was “a dream of mine” that the UK should return to the EU – “instead of a Brexit, a Breturn” – something definitely not a UK government policy.
Starmer, who held talks with Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday during his first official trip to Ukraine since taking office, said defence and security issues had dominated the talks in Warsaw.
“As two of Europe’s biggest military powers and with our troops serving together, guarding the eastern flank, we share an unbreakable commitment to Nato, and an unbreakable commitment to Ukraine,” he said.
“We’re clear together that the route to a just and lasting peace comes through strength, the strength to secure that peace on Ukraine’s terms, to have a strength to maintain it.
“We will work with allies to that end, to step up our efforts to put Ukraine in the strongest position now, and a guarantee that Ukraine will be able to defend herself and deter Russia in the future.”
Trump has expressed a variety of views over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but much of it has focused on his belief he can broker a rapid peace: one seemingly unlikely to meet Ukraine’s demand to not lose any territory, and with major doubts as to whether the US will maintain its full military and diplomatic support.
Asked about one element of this, Trump saying that allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles to hit targets in Russia was “crazy”, Starmer slightly dodged the question, saying he would not provide “a running commentary on other allies”. But, he added: “I think it’s absolutely clear that the US is vital to the defence of Ukraine.”
In a diplomatic blitz before Trump’s inauguration on Monday, Starmer travelled to Warsaw after promising Zelenskiy a “closer than ever” partnership in Kyiv, with the UK and Ukraine signing a deal to deepen the existing defence relationship.
Earlier on Friday, Starmer visited the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum, accompanied by his wife, Victoria, who is Jewish.
Speaking later in Warsaw, he explained the impact the visit to the site of the Nazi death camp had on him: “I stood on those railway tracks, looked at the shoes, the suitcases piled high, the hair, the teeth, taken from those murdered by the Nazis. I will not forget what I saw today. And I’ll never forget my responsibility to pass this on to the next generation, to remember, to learn and to respect our solemn province: never again.”
