On Thursday, February 27, President Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a meeting at the White House. The discussions were expected to cover security issues related to Ukraine.
Starmer was the second European leader to meet with Trump at the White House this week. Prior to his visit, French President Macron met with Trump on Monday, February 24, where they discussed prospects for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire and issues such as deploying peacekeeping forces to Ukraine post-war.
At noon on Thursday, President Trump welcomed Starmer’s visit at the entrance to the West Wing of the White House. When asked if the U.S. could reach a peace agreement for Ukraine, Trump replied, “Yes, we can. We will.”
According to Trump’s schedule, he was set to hold bilateral talks with Starmer followed by a lunch meeting. At 2 PM that afternoon, Trump and Starmer were scheduled to hold a joint press conference.
CNN reported that U.S. senior officials stated that the two leaders would discuss Ukraine’s security during a crucial meeting.
A government senior official mentioned that discussions on security arrangements were ongoing, with the U.S. not planning to deploy troops there, “but this is clearly a very important issue on our European allies’ agenda.”
The official also stated that the scope of security arrangements would depend on conflict resolution methods, “the need to strike a balance between the scale of required force and diplomatic efforts.”
U.S. officials repeatedly highlighted President Trump’s view during cabinet meetings, which emphasized that Ukraine’s security would be provided by European allies.
The day before his visit, Starmer stated that if Europe were to deploy peacekeeping forces to Ukraine after the Russia-Ukraine conflict ends, the U.S. would need to provide security “backing.” He believed this would bring lasting peace to Ukraine rather than just a temporary halt to violence.
Starmer had already pledged an increase in defense spending for the UK. It was expected that he would assure Trump that if successful negotiations were held with Russia, Europe would support and secure Ukraine. A senior official from the Trump administration told reporters that they were pleased with Starmer’s commitment to increasing defense spending.
The meeting between Trump and the British Prime Minister took place a day before Ukrainian President Zelensky’s meeting with Trump. Zelensky visited the U.S. on Friday and was expected to sign a U.S.-Ukraine minerals agreement.
A senior U.S. government official emphasized that the agreement to be signed on Friday was an “economic partnership,” excluding any specific guarantees of funding for future wars or commitments to deploy any American personnel to the region.