Dozens of military chiefs from allies of Ukraine are due to meet in the UK on Thursday – without the US – to plan how a “coalition of the willing” could send in troops to support the Ukrainians if a ceasefire is declared. More than 30 countries were expected to be involved in such a coalition, the office of Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, said on Monday. “The contribution capabilities will vary, but this will be a significant force, with a significant number of countries providing troops,” said a spokesperson. It comes after Starmer held a teleconference with dozens of leaders from European countries and others including Canada and Australia. Starmer and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, have been leading efforts to establish the coalition since Donald Trump opened direct negotiations with Russia without Ukraine or Europe at the table.
Russia has rejected the idea of soldiers from countries belonging to Nato being stationed in Ukraine, but the French president, Emmanuel Macron, declared on Sunday that such a force would not be seeking Russia’s permission. Asked about Russia’s position, Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said: “It is worth remembering that Russia didn’t ask Ukraine when it deployed North Korean troops to the frontline last year.” With some partners potentially wary of committing troops, Starmer has said he welcomes any offer of support, raising the prospect that some countries could contribute logistics or surveillance. His spokesperson on Monday highlighted engineering, the use of airfields and the housing of crews.
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, will meanwhile visit London on Tuesday to meet the British foreign and defence secretaries. The UK government hailed the talks as “part of a new era of UK-EU relations”, and said they would discuss cooperation on Ukraine; how to increase economic pressure on Moscow and ensure it pays for the damage it has caused; and ramping up action against cyber-attacks, election interference and Russian disinformation.
Ukrainian drones set on fire an oil refinery in Russia’s southern Astrakhan region, local authorities said. The regional governor, Igor Babushkin, said on Monday that staff of a “fuel and energy” complex were evacuated before the attack, which started a large fire and wounded one person. Russia launched a barrage of 174 drones on Ukraine, with air defence units shooting down 90 of them and dozens more disabled by electronic jamming, said Ukraine’s air force. About 500 people in the southern region of Odesa lost power and one person was wounded, said the local governor, Oleg Kiper. Back on Russian territory, the Belgorod oblast came under attack from Ukrainian drones on Monday night, local officials said
Russia claimed its forces were advancing in southern Ukraine and had breached part of the Ukrainian lines less than 50km (30 miles) south-east of the city of Zaporizhzhia. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken the village of Stepove in the Zaporizhzhia region. The claims could not be verified and Ukraine’s military said it forces had repelled attacks near Stepove and the nearby village of Lobkove, and battles were still going on.
The US president, Donald Trump, has announced he will be speaking to Vladimir Putin on Tuesday after Ukraine and the US agreed to put forward a ceasefire proposal, which the Russian president has pushed back against, write Pjotr Sauer and Peter Walker. Trump said they would talk about “dividing up certain assets … We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants.” He did not elaborate, but the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to a “power plant that is on the border of Russia and Ukraine”. If she and Trump meant the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, it is not located on the Russia-Ukraine border, but sits in sovereign, internationally recognised Ukrainian territory invaded by Russia.
Ukraine would not agree to territorial concessions, exclusion from Nato, or limits on its defence capabilities, the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign policy committee head, Oleksandr Merezhko, has told the BBC in an interview setting out Kyiv’s “red lines” for peace negotiations.
Germany’s probable next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, faces a key vote in the Bundestag on Tuesday over plans to unlock record state borrowing he argues is needed partly to boost military spending. Germany has been Europe’s biggest provider of military aid to Ukraine.
The Trump administration is withdrawing from an international body formed to investigate responsibility for the invasion of Ukraine and hold Vladimir Putin and others accountable, in the latest sign that the White House is adopting a posture favouring Russia’s ruler, Robert Tait writes from Washington.
Ukraine posted a trade deficit of US$2.3bn in January, compared with a deficit of US$1.5bn in the same period a year ago, the statistics service said on Monday.
