Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey added that the West had done too little in the past when Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014.

In an article for The Telegraph, they said the UK had committed an additional £150m towards military aid for Ukraine as well as new sanctions on people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Their comments come after the US Vice-President, JD Vance, told the Munich Security Conference on Friday that Europe must “step up in a big way to provide for its own defence”.

In his address, Vance said it was his belief that the greatest threat facing Europe was not from Russia or China but “from within”.

He said many European governments, including the UK’s, had retreated from their values and ignored issues like migration and free speech.

Lammy is due to speak as part of a “townhall” meeting on Ukraine at the summit later on Saturday, and will also take part in a panel discussion on European security.

The comments by Lammy and Healey focused on external threats.

The ministers said: “From opposition and in government, we have been clear that Europe and the UK must do more together to share the burden of our continent’s security.”

They added that the West’s response to Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 had been inadequate and that “Putin only responds to strength”.

They said that for two decades the Russian leader had been “seeking to recreate the Russian empire and suffocate the countries around its borders”.

They wrote that the UK, US and Europe were united in achieving a lasting peace in Ukraine, which should be sovereign and prosperous.

Meeting Vance on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted “security guarantees” ahead of planned peace talks between the US and Russia.

US President Donald Trump said he had spoken to Putin on Wednesday and agreed to “work together, very closely” to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. It has been nearly three years since Russia invaded.

Zelensky has proposed what he described as an “army of Europe” to secure the continent.

He told the conference on Saturday: “As we fight this war and lay the groundwork for peace and security, we must build the armed forces of Europe so that Europe’s future depends only on Europeans, and decisions about Europe are made in Europe.”

He added: “Europe needs a single voice, not a dozen different ones.”

Among the other possible security guarantees is the deployment of a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine.

Lord Dannatt, who was head of the British army from 2006 to 2009, said about 100,000 soldiers would be needed for such a mission and that the UK might need to contribute 40,000 of them.

“We just haven’t got that number available,” he told the BBC Radio 4’s The Week in Westminster.

“Our military is so run down at the present moment, numerically and as far as capability and equipment is concerned, it would potentially be quite embarrassing.”

Sir Richard Shirreff, Nato’s former deputy supreme commander, told Radio 4’s Today programme that “100,000 [troops] is probably the minimum”.

Asked about calls to significantly increase defence spending, he said: “This is a defining moment for European militaries [and] European governments”.

The Arctic territory is controlled by Denmark but is also home to a US military base and also has oil drilling and mineral mining potential.

Trump has refused to rule out using military or economic force to take over the territory in recent days and has repeatedly raised the issue since his first term as president.

Lammy told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Trump’s words did not always match his actions.

The latest row erupted after the president-elect’s son, Donald Trump Jr, visited Greenland’s capital, Nuuk.

In response, Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish TV that “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders” and that only the local population could determine its future.

Greenland is an autonomous territory, with its own prime minister, but foreign policy is decided in cooperation with Denmark as it remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The King of Denmark also changed the royal coat of arms to more prominently feature Greenland this week, in what has been interpreted by some as a rebuke to Trump.

Germany and France have also weighed in to the row with strong statements in support of the sovereign borders of their fellow European Union and Nato member Denmark.

Asked whether the US should be allowed to buy Greenland, Mr Lammy said: “I think that we know from Donald Trump’s first term is that the intensity of his rhetoric and the unpredictability sometimes of what he said can be destabilising.

“He did it with Nato. But in fact, in practice, he sent more troops to Europe under his administration.

“Lammy went on to say he was “sure” Trump recognises Greenland as a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, adding “I suspect on Greenland what he’s targeting is his concerns about Russia and China in the Arctic, his concerns about national economic security”.

Asked how the UK would respond if the United States attempted to take Greenland by force, the foreign secretary said “It’s not going to happen. No NATO allies have gone to war”.

“We had a very good meal,” the foreign secretary said on Thursday. “We had a long time to discuss the issues. He was an extremely gracious host, very affable, very warm indeed about our great country.”

And throughout a series of media interviews, briefings and a speech at the Foreign Office, Lammy talked up UK-US relations, even daring to speak of a “special relationship”, a phrase largely avoided by diplomats on both sides of the Atlantic.

The UK and the US, he said, were “required to work very closely together” on global challenges.

They include challenges such as the wars in Europe and the Middle East and what he called “the growing problems in Sudan”. He cited the “close cooperation” between both countries on military and intelligence matters.

But what was striking was how far the foreign secretary was willing to challenge Trump only days before his inauguration.

The president-elect’s refusal to rule out military action against Greenland was, Lammy said, an example of his “destabilising” rhetoric. He said Trump was focused on Arctic security but such an attack by one member of Nato on another was “simply not going to happen”.

He said Trump was right to ask Europe to do more to defend itself but questioned his call for Nato members to spend 5% of their national income on defence, noting the US was itself spending only 3.38 %.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme earlier in the day, Lammy had cast doubt on Trump’s campaign promise of a quick ceasefire in Ukraine.

“I see no evidence that Putin wants to come to the table to negotiate,” he said.

“I think the indications are, from what I’ve seen over the last few days, a slight pushback on this sense that somehow a deal will be achieved on 21 January, I think that’s now unlikely. And we’re hearing that actually the timetable’s moved down somewhat towards Easter.”

Lammy played down the influence of Elon Musk, the wealthy ally of Trump who in recent days has personally attacked British ministers on X. He said the tech boss would have only a “domestic portfolio” in the new administration and his role had not come up in talks between British and Trump officials.

The foreign secretary also emphasised the need to engage with China – on trade, climate, health and artificial intelligence – and urged the country “not to throw in its lot” with Russia. This position is at odds with that held by Trump allies who see China already as a key member of an anti-Western axis including Russia, Iran and North Korea.

Lammy calls his approach to foreign policy “progressive realism”. He said this means seeking progressive ends while accepting the world as it is.

When applying this framework to Trump, he said he will be guided more by the president-elect’s actions than his rhetoric. We shall learn in coming days how far the two remain apart.

And as for that dinner with Trump last autumn, Lammy rarely mentions the fact the meal was almost the cause of a diplomatic upset.

He and Sir Keir Starmer were presented with large plates of Guyanese chicken, somewhat to the dismay of the vegetarian prime minister.

In the national interest, the foreign secretary was obliged to eat more chicken that night than he might have expected.