‘No sustainable peace’ in Ukraine if Europe is not in conversations

There can be “no sustainable peace” in Ukraine without European countries, in particular Ukraine, participating in conversations to end the war with Russia, the British business secretary told the BBC.

Jonathan Reynolds tried the division between the US and his allies about resolving the conflict, after concern about the Trump government that improves peace talks that would lock European countries, including Ukraine.

In response, European leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer, will meet in Paris on Monday, while American officials are preparing to meet Russian negotiators separately.

Reynolds told Sunday with Laura Kuensberg program that the UK could act as a “bridge” between the US and Europe.

Reynolds also told the programOrganized by Victoria Derbyshire, which the VK and Europe had to respond to the American requirements to pay more for their “collective defense” in the light of “larger threats”.

He said that the British government would explain a route map to increase defense expenditure from 2.3% to 2.5% of the national output, but refused to offer a definitive timetable.

The Trump Government NATO has called upon to increase defense expenditure to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP)And last week has said that it will no longer be primarily aimed at European safety.

Press whether the grade of 2.5% would be sufficient, Reynolds said that a decision about further increases would take into account national security.

Asked if the threat was “just greater without the US,” he said there was “no doubt”.

Former head of the army Lord Dannatt has joined the calls for work to go beyond his objective of 2.5%, Warning on Saturday The British army was “running” to lead a future peace mission in Ukraine.

Sources from the Ministry of Defense, however, told the BBC that the priority set a date for when 2.5% were to be reached, adding that this would be the first time that the UK had spent so much to the defense since the last Labor Government .

Reynolds said he thought that the VK “could play a constructive role” as a bridge between the US and Europe “while we adapt to this new era – and it is certainly a new era”.

But he added that there had been no “fundamental infringement” in the relationships and there was “still a lot of common ground”.

The business secretary admitted that it would not be easy [as] There is a very assertive agenda from the US “.

Asked what he made of the UK and the European countries that were not invited to the American Russian conversations, Reynolds said that the American Minister of Defense Pete Hegseeth had made it clear that “everything is still on the table”.

“We should not exclude possible results,” he added.

He argued that Europe and Ukraine should be involved to continue to take every peace scheme.

” [President Trump] Is someone who likes to win and win would not reward an aggression war. “

Sir Keir said on Saturday that the emergency top in Paris was a “one -off moment for our national security” and that it was clear that Europe had to play a greater role in NATO.

He added that the UK would work “to keep the US and Europe together” and could not allow departments between the two to distract from “external enemies”.

Plans for the top came after the special envoy from Trump to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said that European leaders would be consulted, but would not participate in conversations between us and Russia about the end of the war.

The French President Emmanuel Macron said that the meeting should not be “too dramatized”.

Senior figures from the White House will meet Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days. American officials said that Ukraine was also invited – although President Volodyymyr Zensky says that his country has not received such an invitation.

Conservative shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel told Victoria Derbantshire that it was “too premature to make assumptions” about the way the peace talks were on their way.

“We must all have very, very cold and quiet heads now, especially because this conflict is still raging.”

She said that Ukrainians should be the ones to determine their future, because the war was about their “independence and sovereignty”.

Asked if she supported President Trump’s proposal that Ukraine gives up territory to end the conflict, she said: “We have to understand in more detail what they say, it is too easy to generalize.

“They are very early days in those conversations, and I think that the United Kingdom must remain sturdy and solid and strong in the support we give at the moment, together with NATO bondmen.”

Dame Priti added that the UK should inform the priority for the defense as a priority.

On the same program, the deputy leader Richard Tice of Reform UK appeared that it was “no surprise”, Trump and his team watched “a completely different” approach by “setting up everything for picking up” in terms of Ukraine.

He described it as a “massive wake-up call” for European leaders to take responsibility for their own defense.

Co leader of Green Party Adrian Ramsay said that Ukraine “had to be at the front and the center” of peace talks.

He warned that the movements of the Trump government could leave Ukraine and the rest of Europe “with the risk of future Russian aggression”.

Karin von Hippel, former director of the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said she didn’t think Trump would “sell Ukraine” and European countries would “remain calm”.

In the meantime, conservative former Prime Minister Sir John Major has warned that democracy was threatened when the US returns from its role as a world leader.

He BBC Radio 4’s The World this weekend told That Trump’s policy of “isolation” created a power vacuum that would encourage countries such as Russia and China to fill it.

Sir John said: “Much of the win we have achieved in recent years, when the Soviet Union collapsed, are now being reversed and you will see a very aggressive Russia in Ukraine again.

“And if they succeeded with their company in Ukraine, they would undoubtedly be somewhere else elsewhere.”