European leaders meet to discuss Ukraine as UK troop offer hardens regional resolve

Britain said it was ready to send peacekeeping troops to back up any Ukraine peace deal as European leaders gathered on Monday to agree a unified strategy, while Russian and U.S. officials prepared to meet for their own talks to try to end the conflict.

The emergency European summit in Paris came together after President Donald Trump's U.S. administration, Kyiv's main military backer, announced it would sit down with Russia to seek an end to the war. Russia has ruled out conceding territory, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has dismissed the U.S.-Russia talks taking place without him.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's comments on Sunday reflect a realisation among European nations that they will have to do more to ensure Ukraine's security. Washington has made clear that Europe must stop relying on the U.S. for its defence.

A peacekeeping force would not only raise the risk of a direct confrontation with Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but also stretch European armies, whose arsenals have been depleted by supplying Ukraine and decades of relative peace.

There are also difficult questions about how some European nations, whose public finances are groaning, will pay for such expanded military commitments.

European leaders including Starmer, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte were welcomed to the Élysée Palace by President Emmanuel Macron, who had already spoken with Trump.

Germany said it "will not shy away" from contributing ground troops, but that no concrete agreements were expected in Paris.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said there was "absolutely a possibility" of sending Swedish peacekeepers, if and when there was a clear mandate. The Dutch government over the weekend also signalled it could contribute, given a clear mandate and a pledge of U.S. support in any escalation.