(Al Jazeera Media Network) British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stresses the United Kingdom’s intention to provide “robust and credible” security guarantees to prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine again as Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet to sign up to a US-brokered truce proposal as fighting rages on the ground.
“We will build up Ukraine’s own defences and armed forces and be ready to deploy as a ‘coalition of the willing’ in the event of a peace deal to help secure Ukraine on the land, at sea and in the sky,” Starmer said on Saturday after a virtual meeting with 25 European Union and world leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“We agreed military planners would convene again in the UK this week to progress practical plans for how our militaries can support Ukraine’s future security,” Starmer added.
The meeting was held after Putin on Friday agreed in principle to an immediate 30-day ceasefire put forward by Washington and already accepted by Ukraine. But Putin said there were issues to work out. These included questions on who would monitor the ceasefire and whether the pause in fighting could be used for Kyiv to mobilise new forces at a time when Russia is regaining ground in Kursk. Part of the Russian region on the border with Ukraine was occupied by Ukrainian forces in a lightning offensive in August.\
In other developments, Russia and Ukraine traded heavy aerial blows with both sides reporting more than 100 enemy drones over their respective territories. A fire broke out near an oil facility in Russia’s Volgograd region after a Ukrainian drone attack.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that it shot down 126 Ukrainian drones overnight, 64 of which were destroyed over the Volgograd region. Drones were also shot down over the Voronezh, Belgorod, Bryansk, Rostov and Kursk regions.
