UK ‘must not choose between US, Europe,’ says Starmer

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The British prime minister on Wednesday said they need to ensure that the US, the UK, Europe and Ukraine are working together on lasting peace in Ukraine.

"We need to do everything we can to ensure that the US, Europe and Ukraine, are working together on lasting peace," Keir Starmer said during his first Prime Minister's Questions session in the House of Commons since his US visit and Ukraine summit.

He stated that the UK "must not choose between the US and Europe," adding they never have historically, and are not going to do so now.

Starmer noted that he is doing "everything I can" to play his part in regular contact with all of the key players, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

During the exchange, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch asked Starmer what he is doing to help "rebuild" the ties between US President Donald Trump and Zelenskyy. The prime minister replied: "We need to do everything we can."

Trump has also suspended the delivery of all US military aid to Ukraine, after his explosive confrontation with the Ukrainian president at the White House last week.

Asked about his US visit last week, Starmer said that Trump made "absolutely clear" his commitment to Article 5 of NATO, and agreed that teams from both countries would sit down together to talk through security guarantees.

Starmer went on to say that since he has spoken with the US president three times on the telephone, because "it is vitally important that we work with the US, with Europe and Ukraine, and make sure that if there is a deal, it has proper security guarantees in place."

Asked by Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey whether he still believes that Trump is a reliable ally, Starmer said "of course they're a reliable ally."

"We work very closely with the United States on defense, on security and on intelligence. We have done for many, many years ... of course, they're a reliable ally. We are operating on that basis, day in, day out, across the world."

Stressing that their main focus now is on a "lasting peace" in Ukraine, Starmer said that a lasting peace in Ukraine is good for Ukraine, for Europe and "of course, essential for the United Kingdom."