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Sir Keir Starmer faces a possible diplomatic breach with Donald Trump over the president’s shock talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine war.
After learning of Mr Trump’s plan to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia to discuss the issue, defence secretary John Healey said Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky must have a say.
And British defence figures are said to reacted furiously to claims Ukraine will be forced to give up land to Russia in a peace deal, saying of the US administration’s stance: “The bastards are going to do this”.
The robust British response could mark the first major test in relations between the Labour government and Mr Trump’s White House.
Issuing a response to the proposal as Nato allies gathered in Brussels, Mr 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 – and let’s not forget, Russia remains a threat well beyond Ukraine.
“So my message in these discussions will be that there can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine and Ukraine’s voice must be at the heart of any talks.
“Ukrainians are fighting bravely. It’s our jobs. It’s our job as defence ministers here at Nato, to put them in the best position to secure a lasting peace through strength.”
It came after Mr Trump announced he and Russian president Putin had agreed to start negotiations on ending the war following a “lengthy and highly productive phone call” between the two leaders.
The US has suggested that, as part of a peace deal, Ukraine must accept it will have to give up some territory to Russia and Nato membership is not a realistic prospect.
But Nato’s official position – endorsed by Sir Keir Starmer’s government in the UK-Ukraine 100-year partnership – is that Kyiv is on an irreversible path to joining the alliance.
British military figures were reportedly markedly less diplomatic than Mr Healey in expressing their reservations about the Trump-Putin initiative.
Newsnight political editor Nick Watt said: “Talking to people in the defence establishment what I am hearing is things like this – ‘they [the US administration] are doing this above Zelensky’s head.’
Mr Watt explained: “On the overall approach, which is, no way will Putin get all he wants – which is Ukraine – but Zelensky will lose a huge amount of Ukraine. That is what I am hearing of the US administration – ‘the bastards are going to do this.’”
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook pushed back against the suggestion that Ukraine should abandon hopes of driving Russia out of all of its territory, insisting it is for Kyiv to decide when to enter peace talks with Moscow “and on what terms”.
Asked if he agrees with US defence chief Pete Hegseth’s suggestion that Ukraine retrieving its pre-2014 border is unrealistic, Mr Pennycook told Times Radio: “No, I don’t think so, and that’s precisely why we’ve stepped up and stood behind Ukraine in its fight for freedom and as a means of bolstering European security.
“But I think, I think the important point to your listeners is Ukrainians are still fighting and dying as we speak.
“Ultimately, it is for them to decide when they start talking and on what terms.”
Former MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger also pushed back, saying Donald Trump “can’t be allowed to give away Ukrainian sovereignty”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday morning, Sir Alex, the former chief of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, said the situation posed a threat to Ukraine’s existence as a sovereign country.
“There’s been some very, very hefty concessions made without much being asked for in return. The key point, though, the key point is that the vital ground of this conversation is not about territory. It’s about sovereignty.
“Russia wants Ukraine to be a non-country, and if Donald Trump gives that away, we’ve lost.”
Meanwhile, former defence secretary Ben Wallace suggested the United States is no longer a “moral leader”.
He said the UK will have to “step up to fill the void in Europe and show our own leadership”, warning that the US’s domestic agenda could embolden hostile actors.
“MAGA is all about America first. Leadership is not about being first. It’s about being generous and bringing people with you”, he told Times Radio.
“It is also a signal that I’m afraid will embolden the likes of the Putins, the President Xi’s, the Iranians, because they will now see that what preoccupies the United States is purely really a domestic agenda and its own shores.
“And it will be ambiguous at best when it comes to protecting sovereignty, freedom and democracy. And I think that’s the biggest worry we have to face.”
Rishi Sunak also told the government it would have his support if UK troops were needed in Ukraine to give them confidence in any peace settlement, as he spoke during an urgent question on Ukraine in the House of Commons.
But Mr Hegseth denied that Mr Trump’s peace talks with Russia are a betrayal of Kyiv.
“There is no betrayal there. There is a recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested in peace, a negotiated peace, as president Trump has said, stopping the killing. And so that will require both sides recognising things they don’t want to”, he told journalists ahead of Thursday’s NATO meeting.
The MoD has been contacted for comment.
