General Keith Kellogg made the announcement on Saturday after the US sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv.

Trump  took European allies by surprise this week by calling Russia’s President Vladimir Putin without consulting them or Kyiv beforehand and declaring an immediate start to Ukraine peace talks.

The Trump administration has made it clear to European allies in NATO to take primary responsibility for the region, stating that the US has other priorities, such as border security and countering China.

Asked if he could assure the audience that Ukrainians and Europeans would be at the table for talks, Kellogg told a global security conference in Munich that “the answer to that last question, just as you framed it, is no”.

Ukrainians, however, will “of course” be at the table, he said, adding it would be foolish to suggest otherwise.

European leaders were swift to react.

“There’s no way in which we can have discussions or negotiations about Ukraine, Ukraine’s future or European security structure, without Europeans,” Finland’s President Alexander Stubb told the same security conference in Munich. “But this means that Europe needs to get its act together. Europe needs to talk less and do more.”

A European diplomat said the US questionnaire included six queries, with one specifically for European Union member states.

“The Americans are approaching European capitals and asking how many soldiers they are ready to deploy,” one diplomat said, the Reuters news agency reported.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte chimed in by urging Europeans to get their act together.

“To my European friends, I would say, get into the debate, not by complaining that you might, yes or no, be at the table, but by coming up with concrete proposals, ideas, ramp up [defence] spending,” he said in Munich.

France is discussing with its allies the possibility of holding an informal meeting among European leaders on the issue, a French presidency official said on Saturday.

Kellogg told the conference that talks aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine could focus on territorial concessions from Russia and targeting Putin’s oil revenues.

“Russia is really a petrostate,” he said, adding that Western powers needed to do more regarding effectively enforcing sanctions on Russia.

Kellogg’s announcement came shortly after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the creation of a European army, saying the continent could no longer be sure of protection from the US and would only get respect from Washington with a strong military.

“Let’s be honest – now we can’t rule out the possibility that America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it,” said Zelenskyy.

European nations cooperate militarily primarily within NATO, but governments have so far rejected various calls for the creation of a single European army over the years, arguing that defence is a matter of national sovereignty.