Starmer urges Trump not to abandon Ukraine in press to end Russian war

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer used a visit to Washington on Thursday to press President Donald Trump not to abandon Ukraine as he looks to find a quick endgame to Russia’s bloody invasion of its neighbor.

With a mix of flattery and frank talk, the center-left Starmer made the case to the Republican president to remain cautious as he goes about ending the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II. The British premier started the visit by delivering an invitation from King Charles III to come to Scotland for a “historic” state visit — noting it was an “unprecedented” honor since Trump already had been given the royal treatment by Queen Elizabeth II during his first term.

“You’ve created a moment of tremendous opportunity to reach a historic peace deal — a deal that I think would be celebrated in Ukraine and around the world,” Starmer told Trump. “That is the prize. But we have to get it right.”

Trump said that talks to end the grinding war are “very well advanced” but also cautioned that there is only a narrow window to get a deal done.

“If it doesn’t happen quickly, it may not happen at all,” Trump warned.

Starmer’s visit came after French President Emmanuel Macron was in Washington earlier this week to make a similar case to Trump, and a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to visit the White House. The British leader leaned into the idea that Trump was the glue to maintaining the peace in Ukraine should the three-year war end.

The press by Starmer and Macron this week reflects the mounting concern felt by much of Europe that Trump’s aggressive push to find an end to the war signals his willingness to concede too much to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Some of Trump’s comments during Starmer’s visit may only add to Europe’s anxiety. The American leader expressed confidence that Putin won’t press to restart the war if a truce can be reached.

“I think he’ll keep his word,” Trump said of Putin. “I’ve spoken to him, I’ve known him for a long time now, we had to go through the Russian hoax together.”

The mention of “Russia hoax” is a reference to the FBI and Justice Department special counsel investigation that examined whether Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign illegally coordinated with Russia to sway the outcome of the U.S. election.

Special counsel Robert Mueller found that although the Trump campaign welcomed Russia’s help in the form of the release of hacked emails stolen from Democrats, there was insufficient evidence to prove that the campaign had colluded with Moscow.

Trump’s rapprochement with Russia has unsettled America’s historic allies in Europe. They have found themselves on their heels with Trump returning to the White House with a determination to dramatically make over U.S. foreign policy to correspond with his “America First” world view.

The Trump administration held talks last week with Russia without Ukrainian or other European allies represented. And this week, the U.S. refused to sign on to resolutions at the United Nations blaming Russia for the war. The drifting White House view of Ukraine under Trump is leading to a tectonic shift in transatlantic relations.

Starmer applauded Trump’s push to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but also urged that “it can’t be peace that rewards the aggressor.”

“History must be on the side of the peacemaker, not the invader,” Starmer said.

At a White House meeting Friday, Trump and Zelenskyy are expected to sign off on a contentious agreement that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals , which are used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries. Zelenskyy had chafed at a deal without specific security guarantees from Washington.

Trump remains noncommittal about any coming American security guarantees, and underscored that Russia would think twice about attacking Ukraine should the U.S. build an economic footprint in Ukraine to extract critical minerals

“We are a backstop because we’ll be over there, we’ll be working in the country,” Trump said.

If a truce can be reached, Starmer and Macron have agreed to send troops for a potential peacekeeping mission to Ukraine to ensure that fighting between Ukraine and Russia doesn’t flare up again.

But White House officials are skeptical that Britain and France can assemble enough troops from across Europe, at least at this moment, to deploy a credible peacekeeping mission to Kyiv.

Ireland's Micheál Martin, left, meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Shannon Airport in County Clare, Ireland on Thursday. (Noel Sweeney/PA via AP)

Zelenskyy, while en route to Washington, met on Thursday with Ireland’s prime minister, Micheál Martin, who said he told Zelenskyy that Ireland is open to helping, including sending peacekeepers to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy and European officials have no illusions about U.S. troops taking part in such a mission. But Starmer and others are trying to make the case that the plan can only work with a U.S. backstop for European forces on the ground — through U.S. aerial intelligence, surveillance and support, as well as rapid-response cover in case of breaches of a truce.

Trump is also looking at the moment as an opportunity to potentially reopen economic relations with Russia after three years of U.S.-led sanctions to punish Moscow for the invasion.

Starmer is hosting a Sunday meeting in the United Kingdom of international leaders that will focus on Ukraine, and Zelenskyy is expected to attend. The prime minister also announced plans this week for the U.K. to bolster defense spending, something that should sit well with Trump, who has been critical that European allies are spending too little on defense.

Starmer’s government will increase military spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2027, years earlier than expected, and aim to reach 3% by 2035.

“The disaster in Ukraine shows exactly why it’s so important for the United Kingdom and other NATO partners to make large investments in their defense capabilities,” Trump said. “You’re raising it quite a bit, which is a great thing to do for your country. It’s a great thing to do. It’s sad that we need that, but probably need that.”

Associated Press writers Panagiotis Pylas in London and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

英国首相基尔·斯塔默周四访问华盛顿，敦促美国总统唐纳德·特朗普不要放弃乌克兰，因为他正寻求尽快结束俄罗斯对其邻国的血腥入侵。

中间偏左的斯塔默以恭维与坦率的言辞相结合的方式，劝说这位共和党总统在结束二战以来欧洲最大的冲突时保持谨慎。这位英国首相首先转达了查理三世国王的邀请，邀请特朗普对苏格兰进行一次“历史性”的国事访问——并指出这是一项“史无前例”的殊荣，因为特朗普在第一任期内已经受到过伊丽莎白二世女王的礼遇。

“你创造了一个达成历史性和平协议的绝佳机会——我认为这项协议将在乌克兰乃至全世界受到庆祝，”斯塔默对特朗普说。“这就是我们赢得的奖赏。但我们必须确保万无一失。”

特朗普表示，结束这场旷日持久的战争的谈判“进展非常顺利”，但他同时也警告说，达成协议的时间窗口很窄。

“如果这件事不能迅速发生，可能就根本不会发生，”特朗普警告说。

斯塔默此次访问是在法国总统马克龙本周早些时候访问华盛顿，向特朗普阐述类似观点之后进行的。而就在一天后，乌克兰总统泽连斯基也将访问白宫。这位英国领导人强调，如果这场持续三年的战争结束，特朗普将是维护乌克兰和平的关键人物。

本周斯塔默和马克龙的表态反映出欧洲大部分地区日益增长的担忧，即特朗普积极推动结束战争表明他愿意对俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京做出过多让步。

特朗普在斯塔默访问期间的一些言论可能只会加剧欧洲的焦虑。这位美国领导人表示，如果能够达成停火协议，他相信普京不会试图重启战争。

“我认为他会信守承诺，”特朗普谈到普京时说。“我和他谈过，我认识他很久了，我们一起经历了‘通俄门’骗局。”

提到“通俄门”指的是联邦调查局和司法部特别检察官的调查，该调查审查了特朗普 2016 年总统竞选活动是否与俄罗斯非法协调，以影响美国大选结果。

特别检察官罗伯特·穆勒发现，尽管特朗普竞选团队对俄罗斯提供的帮助表示欢迎，即公布从民主党人那里窃取的电子邮件，但没有足够的证据证明该竞选团队与莫斯科勾结。

特朗普与俄罗斯的和解令美国在欧洲的传统盟友感到不安。随着特朗普重返白宫，决心彻底改变美国外交政策，使其符合其“美国优先”的世界观，这些盟友发现自己措手不及。

上周，特朗普政府与俄罗斯举行了会谈，但乌克兰和其他欧洲盟友均未出席。本周，美国拒绝在联合国签署指责俄罗斯发动战争的决议。特朗普领导下白宫对乌克兰问题的立场摇摆不定，正导致跨大西洋关系发生根本性转变。

斯塔默赞扬了特朗普为结束俄罗斯入侵乌克兰所做的努力，但也敦促道：“和平不能奖励侵略者。”

“历史必须站在和平缔造者一边，而不是侵略者一边，”斯塔默说。

预计特朗普和泽连斯基将在周五的白宫会晤中签署一项备受争议的协议，该协议将使美国能够获得乌克兰的关键矿产资源，这些矿产资源用于航空航天、国防和核工业。泽连斯基此前一直对华盛顿方面缺乏具体安全保障的协议感到不满。

特朗普对未来美国的安全保障仍未作出任何承诺，并强调如果美国在乌克兰建立经济据点以开采关键矿产，俄罗斯在攻击乌克兰之前将会三思。

“我们是后盾，因为我们会在那里，我们会在那个国家开展工作，”特朗普说。

如果能够达成停火协议，斯塔默和马克龙已同意向乌克兰派遣军队执行潜在的维和任务，以确保乌克兰和俄罗斯之间的战斗不会再次爆发。

但白宫官员怀疑，至少目前来看，英国和法国能否从欧洲各地集结足够的军队，向基辅部署一支可信的维和部队。

周四，爱尔兰外交官米歇尔·马丁（左）在爱尔兰克莱尔郡香农机场会见了乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基。（Noel Sweeney/PA via AP）

泽连斯基在前往华盛顿的途中，于周四会见了爱尔兰总理米歇尔·马丁。马丁表示，他告诉泽连斯基，爱尔兰愿意提供帮助，包括向乌克兰派遣维和人员。

泽连斯基和欧洲官员对美军参与此类任务并不抱有任何幻想。但斯塔默等人试图论证，该计划只有在美国为欧洲地面部队提供后援的情况下才能奏效——这包括美国的空中情报、监视和支援，以及在停火协议遭到破坏时提供快速反应掩护。

特朗普也把此时此刻视为一个机会，有可能在经历了三年以美国为首的制裁以惩罚莫斯科入侵俄罗斯之后，重新与俄罗斯恢复经济关系。

英国首相斯塔默将于周日在英国主持召开国际领导人会议，会议将重点讨论乌克兰问题，泽连斯基预计也将出席。斯塔默本周还宣布了英国增加国防开支的计划，这应该会让特朗普感到高兴，因为特朗普一直批评欧洲盟友在国防上的投入太少。

斯塔默政府计划到 2027 年将军费开支提高到国内生产总值的 2.5%，比预期提前数年，并力争到 2035 年达到 3%。

特朗普说：“乌克兰的灾难恰恰表明，英国和其他北约伙伴国为何必须大力投资国防能力。你们大幅提高了国防投入，这对你们国家来说是一件好事。这的确是一件好事。虽然我们不得不这样做令人遗憾，但或许我们确实需要这样做。”

美联社驻伦敦记者帕纳吉奥蒂斯·皮拉斯和埃里克·塔克对本报道亦有贡献。