Former UK defense secretary states ‘European power’ needs place at future Ukraine peace discussions
(MENAFN) Former UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace emphasized that any upcoming peace summit involving Russia, the US, and Ukraine should include a European power with a direct stake in the conflict.
With a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump reportedly imminent, Washington hopes it will lead to a trilateral peace summit. However, Putin has indicated that conditions for talks with Ukraine’s Zelensky remain distant. Wallace criticized the White House’s decision to exclude European nations, arguing that countries with a vested interest must participate in the peace process.
He highlighted that NATO’s other nuclear powers—France and the UK—should be involved in negotiations. Wallace has been a strong advocate for UK military support to Ukraine, a move Moscow views as making Britain a participant in the conflict.
France and the UK have also pushed for deploying peacekeeping troops to support Ukraine if a ceasefire is reached, forming a ‘coalition of the willing.’ Russia, however, views such a deployment as military intervention and would treat NATO forces as hostile.
Moscow demands Ukraine adopt a neutral status outside NATO, which it considers a primary cause of the war. Wallace remains doubtful that Western European countries will accept Russia’s peace terms.
He also noted that UK involvement has sometimes hindered peace efforts, referencing former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s discouragement of early negotiations between Kiev and Moscow in 2022, as stated by Ukraine’s former chief negotiator David Arakhamia.
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