European nations may need tooffer reliable security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia if the US will not, the former head of the UK armed forces has said.
Retired General Sir Nick Carter said ensuring Ukraine’s sovereignty was fundamental to a fair deal, and that Europe mustset out its vision of peace that deters Russian aggression.
He said the UK could take a lead in doing this, ahead of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting with US President Donald Trump next week.
US efforts to bring the war in Ukraine to an end have recently caused a growing rift between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and sparked discussions among European leaders.
The US announced it will soon begin direct negotiations with Russia on a peace deal as the Trump administration seeks to take a smaller role in securing Europe.
But some of Trump’s recent remarks about Ukraine and its leader have caused concern about the direction those talks may go. On Thursday night, Zelensky said Ukraine needed “reliable and well-defined” security guarantees.
Gen Carter, who was chief of the UK’s defence staff between 2018 and 2021, said it was for Ukraine to decide what a “fair settlement” to end the war meant.
But the UK and other European allies needed to make clear their position on “what the minimum acceptable level might be”, he told a BBC One Question Time special on the war in Ukraine.
“Fundamentally, there has got to be some form of guarantee of Ukraine’s sovereignty in the future.
“That means there’s got to be a copper bottom security guarantee, and if America’s not prepared to do that then some others are going to have to step up to the plate to provide that.
“You can add to it accession to the European Union, you can add a viable economy – there are other ingredients that would look like a just and viable peace. But the bottom line is a security guarantee.”
Sir Keir has previously said a “US security guarantee” is “the only way to effectively deter Russia”.
But he also said the UK was willing to provide peacekeeping troops if a US “backstop” was provided.
He did not explain what he meant by this, but others have suggested it could involve air support, logistics and intelligence capabilities.
Trump said earlier this week that he “would not object” to Europe sending in peacekeeping troops, but the US “won’t have to put any over there, because, you know, we’re very far away”.
Washington has also suggested Europe needs to take greater responsibility for its own defence.
Sir Nick warned the UK armed forces were “remarkably hollow” after a “process of neglect over a 30-year period”.
“I think we also need to be clear about how vulnerable our country is,” he said, describing how much of the UK’s critical infrastructure was dependent on undersea cables or “not properly protected by cyber defences”.
He said: “We are in a position I think where we are massively vulnerable at the moment. And whether we like it or not that means we’re going to have to start protecting ourselves.
“And the sort of onslaught that Ukraine has suffered from the air via drones and missiles over the course of the last three years is unsustainable as far as the UK’s concerned.
“We might be able to park a destroyer in the Thames to protect parts of London but nothing more than that.”
In the US, the prime minister is expected to maintain his support for Zelensky and Ukraine’s government while seeking to gain Trump’s ear over talks with Russia.
He will go to the White House following a separate visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to see Trump on Monday.
Macron is seeking to co-ordinate a European response and said he had spoken to Zelensky to discuss the diplomatic situation ahead of his trip.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also spoke to Zelensky, repeating Canada’s support and stressing that Kyiv must be involved in any negotiations to end the war.
China has come out in support of Trump’s plan to negotiate with Russia, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi saying it supports “all efforts conducive to peace” including the US-Russia talks.
“China has noted that calls for peace talks have been rising recently, and a window for peace is opening,” Wang was quoted as saying at the G20 meeting in South Africa by the AFP news agency.
The G20 – or Group of Twenty – is a club of countries that meets to discuss global economic and political issues.
Attending the talks in Johannesburg, Lammy appeared sceptical of whether Moscow was serious about peace, after listening to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov’s speech.
“We’ve not got anywhere near a negotiated settlement, and I have to say when I listened to what the Russians and what Lavrov has just said in the chamber this afternoon, I don’t see an appetite to really get to that peace,” Lammy said.
Lammy and Lavrov both gave speeches behind closed doors at the summit.
It is understood Lavrov boycotted Lammy’s speech, in which he said the UK was “ready to listen” to Russia but they expected to hear more than Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “tired fabrications”.
Thursday’s Question Time panel included Sir Nick; Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko, a member of the liberal, pro-European opposition Holos party; Jan Halper-Hayes, who has served as a campaign adviser to Trump; Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds; and Conservative former defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace.
Ukrainian refugees among the audience spoke about the trauma of seeing their country torn apart by war.