How Donald Trump has pushed UK and France to deepen military ties

Britain and France are to deepen their military ties in response to Donald Trump’s decision to distance the US from Europe.

In talks in Paris on Tuesday evening, Defence Secretary John Healey and his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu discussed modernising the relationship between the two countries, including “improving how our militaries work together and stepping up the relationship between our defence industries”.

Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have led international efforts to create a “coalition of the willing” which would help support a peacekeeping force in Ukraine if a deal can be struck with Russia to end the conflict.

Healey and Lecornu discussed the British-Franco coalition over dinner after Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin co-hosted talks in Paris, attended by representatives of 30 countries offering support to the peacekeeping plan.

In their talks in Paris, Healey and Lecornu discussed a “reboot” of the Lancaster House collaboration struck between David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010, under which France and Britain agreed closer defence and security co-operation.

That agreement also discussed sharing research on nuclear stockpile technology between the two nuclear powers.

Fears over the future of the UK and French nuclear deterrents have risen due to Trump’s call for Europe to do more to fund its own security. British Trident warheads are controlled by the UK but are maintained and repaired in the US.

It came as a major breakthrough in the impasse between Washington and Kyiv following the row between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky last month was announced, with the US agreeing to restart intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

This followed “positive” discussions on a peace deal between Trump’s national security adviser and secretary of state and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia, which ended with Zelensky’s government saying it was ready to accept a 30-day ceasefire.

Following the coalition of the willing talks led by Radakin it was still not clear how many states, beyond the UK and France, are prepared to offer troops on the ground in Ukraine.

Healey, Lecornu and defence ministers from Germany, Italy and Poland will hold talks in the French capital on Wednesday to discuss strengthening deterrence through Nato, boosting defence production and securing Ukraine’s future.

On Saturday Starmer will host a virtual follow up to the Lancaster House meeting last month where the coalition of the willing was launched.

At the joint defence meeting at Val-de-Grace chapel in Paris on Wednesday, the group of E5 countries will pledge to deepen defence co-operation with all European allies, including strengthening deterrence through Nato, boosting defence production and securing Ukraine’s future.

All five countries are in agreement that Ukraine must be at the heart of any negotiations and that they must work together to put Kyiv in the strongest possible position, the Ministry of Defence said.

The ministers will also agree to strengthen their own homeland defences.

Healey said: “We are at a decisive moment for the future of Ukraine and for the security of Europe. As E5 nations, we recognise we must take on more responsibility for European security.

“The UK remains steadfast in its support for Ukraine, and we will continue to lead alongside our European partners as we push for a just and lasting peace.”

Peacekeeping: Europe may ‘have to go for it’ without a US backstop

As peace talks continued, Downing Street said Starmer still wanted to ensure US security guarantees were in place as a backstop for any multinational peacekeeping force.

Starmer’s official spokesman said: “The position in relation to security guarantees and the importance of security guarantees to ensuring a durable, sustainable peace in Ukraine has not changed.”

Asked whether a peacekeeping could force be in place without a US backstop, the spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has always said that it would require a US backstop in order to provide a credible deterrent, to [Vladimir] Putin, not to just use any pause in the fighting to regroup, rearm and then decide to go again.

“The PM has always been clear, the United States is a crucial part of that.”

A senior European diplomat said that building a coalition of the willing to help protect Ukraine outside of existing institutional frameworks like Nato and the EU was “nightmarishly difficult”, but still the best option on the table.

They said that creating a “robust command and control framework” for the different military forces in the coalition to work together in Ukraine would be “incredibly difficult”.

As well as the UK and France, Turkey is expected to play a key role in the coalition because it has the second largest army in Nato and a “significant” naval role controlling the Bosphorus Straits into the Black Sea.

While Europe wants a US backstop for the coalition, the diplomat said that if this did not materialise the continent would “have to go for it anyhow” because security guarantees were fundamental to Ukraine’s future viability.

Following the breakthrough in peace talks in Riyadh, there are now questions over Russia’s willingness to come to the table to agree a deal.

Earlier, in response to reports that Putin was unwilling to compromise on any peace deal, Starmer’s spokesman said: “Well, look, we all want to see an end to this war in Russia. It’s in Russia’s gift to do this. It could withdraw his force at any time and end its illegal invasion.

“We’re obviously working with Ukraine and the US, France and others, to develop credible peace plan, proposals to develop the necessary security guarantees to secure a peace in a lasting fashion.

“But I’m not going to get ahead of those talks, and as I say, Ppesident Putin could bring this war to an end tomorrow, if he so chose.”