U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has kicked off an online summit on March 15 of the "coalition of the willing," who could go on to secure Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia.
Starmer urged attendees to "keep the pressure up" on Russian President Vladimir Putin in his opening remarks.
The ongoing virtual summit is convening countries who could form a post-war peacekeeping force within Ukraine. As of March 13, the potential coalition consists of 37 countries, with the U.K. and France largely taking the lead as the only countries who have publicly committed to sending troops to Ukraine post-war.
Twenty-five nations are attending today, per the U.K. government, which wrote that the meeting would seek "concrete commitments."
The European Union is by and large increasingly taking point on securing Ukraine's future. Following on a similar meeting at the outset of March, the summit is taking place just days after a U.S. delegation was in Moscow to discuss a ceasefire deal with Putin.
Starmer in a statement on March 14 warned Putin against "playing games" with these ceasefire negotiations. Putin has maintained maximalist demands for Ukrainian to cede territory beyond what Russia has actually taken, as well as demilitarization.
Starmer himself has become a leading light within European politics for his advocacy of Ukraine, as well as his singular talent at placating U.S. President Donald Trump. The U.K. and the U.S. have what's referred to the "Special Relationship" — deep relations in trade, security and defense, and intelligence.
A Starmer spokesperson said last week that, "We’ve always said that Ukraine, at the other end of this process, must emerge as a sovereign territory."
The summit represents a pivot in the West's strategy toward the war in Ukraine to planning for post-conflict stability rather than solely focusing on immediate military support.
Putin has been hostile to the presence of foreign soldiers in Ukraine to secure any sort of peace post-war. Ukraine maintains that without firm security guarantees from the West, Putin will use any cessation in hostilities to build up and attack Ukraine again.
Oleg Sukhov
(Updated: )
