British and French military chiefs to visit Kyiv, says PM

Britain and France are preparing to send a joint military delegation to Ukraine in an effort to determine how any future ceasefire deal can be supported on the ground, Sir Keir Starmer said after a summit in Paris yesterday.

- A R C H I E M I T C H E L L

The prime minister also called for a deadline for Russia to come to the negotiating table, adding: "We need to see this developing in days and weeks, not months and months".

Sir Keir said: "We will be ready to operationalise a peace deal whenever its precise shape turns out to be, and we will work together to ensure Ukraine's security so it can defend and deter against the future." French president Emmanuel Macron said it is "not up to Russia what happens on Ukrainian soil" after the Russian leader ruled out allowing the so-called coalition of the willing to deploy a peacekeeping force in the country.

After a meeting of 30 countries in the coalition, Sir Keir said there had been "clear progress" in the assembly of a peacekeeping force since talks began a month ago, with more countries willing to join Britain and France in sending troops to Ukraine.

But he was unable to give tangible evidence of the coalition having come closer to assembling the much-touted peacekeeping force in the four meetings it has convened so far.