Ukraine-Russia conflict newest: Starmer warns Putin may reinvade Ukraine until US supplies safety ensures

Our political editor David Maddox reports from Washington:

Speaking to British journalists as he flew to Washington for his meeting with Donald Trump, Sir Keir Starmer signalled that he does not intend to capitulate in the next 24 hours as he insisted that Russia must be blamed for the war.

Responding to comments from Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov ruling out British or French peacekeepers in Ukraine, he said: “There’s one aggressor here and that’s Russia.”

“Russia can end this conflict tomorrow by withdrawing and stopping their aggression. All the discussion that follows, about talks, about security guarantees, has to be seen in that context. They are the aggressor. They have invaded and occupied a sovereign country in Europe, and they bear full responsibility for the conflict,” he said.

But Sir Keir was unwilling to discuss whether he believes that he can persuade President Trump to provide a US backstop to a Ukraine deal.

“I’m not going to get ahead of the discussion I am going to have tomorrow… but the reason I say the backstop is so important is that the security guarantee has to be sufficient to deter Putin from coming again. Because my concern is if there is a ceasefire without a backstop, it will simply give him the opportunity to wait and to come again because his ambition in relation to Ukraine is pretty obvious, I think, for all to see.”

And he made clear the UK will provide peacekeeping troops if necessary stating: “We will play our part and I’ve been clear that we will need a US backstop of some sort.”

The Ukrainian military claims to have shot down 90 out of 166 drones launched by Russia overnight targeting regions across Ukraine, including Khiv, Kharkiv, Sumy and Odesa – while a further 72 drones were “lost”, likely due to electronic warfare countermeasures.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces reported another heavy 24 hours of fighting in its daily update on Thursday morning, as it claimed to have inflicted 1,150 casualties on Vladimir Putin’s forces and damaged eight Russian tanks.

There were 110 combat clashes along the front line, Ukraine’s military chiefs said, 33 of which came in the direction of Pokrovsk, the Donetsk city which has for months been a key focus of Russia’s assault.

Russia’s forces launched 81 air strikes and dropped 121 precision-guided glide bombs, while firing some 6,000 artillery shells and deploying more than 2,500 kamikaze drones, Ukraine said.

EU Council president Antonio Costa has invited Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky to the special summit of EU leaders on 6 March, to discuss future support for Kyiv.

“The EU and its member states are ready to take more responsibility for Europe’s security,” Mr Costa said in invitation letter to EU leaders.

“We should therefore be prepared for a possible European contribution to the security guarantees that will be necessary to ensure a lasting peace in Ukraine.”

Mr Costa, who chairs the EU summits, said he aimed for decisions that would make the EU “better equipped to deal with immediate and future challenges to its security”.

A week of intense international diplomacy is continuing today as Sir Keir Starmer visits Washington, and Russian and US officials also hold separate talks in Turkey on normalising the operation of their respective embassies. Ukraine will not be on the agenda in Istanbul.

The British prime minister’s visit comes just days after France’s Emmanuel Macron also met with Donald Trump in Washington in a bid to push the reluctant US president to soften his position on Ukraine.

And tomorrow, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky will also visit Washington to sign a deal demanded by Mr Trump giving the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals. It is uncertain to what extent security guarantees for Kyiv are included in the deal, but Mr Trump has strongly signalled that this task will fall to Europe – not Washington.

As he landed in Washington on Thursday morning, Sir Keir headed straight to the residence of his ambassador Lord Peter Mandelson, where they and foreign secretary David Lammy met with members of Mr Trump’s administration at a drinks reception.

In remarks at the reception, Sir Keir sought to strike a friendly tone, calling for a “new partnership” with the US and likening himself to Trump ally Elon Musk by insisting his government was also “stripping away red tape and bureaucracy”.

Sir Keir will meet Mr Trump later on Thursday, and is expected to push Mr Trump to provide a US “backstop”, while also committing UK troops to any peacekeeping force in Ukraine as part of a peace deal with Russia.

Following his Washington visit, Sir Keir will host the leaders of Italy, Germany, Poland and other allies – possibly including Mr Zelensky – in London on Sunday to discuss their response to Mr Trump’s push for a deal with Russia.

A Russian delegation arrived on Thursday at the U.S. consul general’s residence in Istanbul for Russia-US talks aimed at resolving disputes over the work of their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow.

While the scope of the talks is narrow and will not include Ukraine, they will test both sides’ seriousness about repairing their relations and working to end the war.

The meeting follows a phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on 12 February and a high-level diplomatic meeting in Saudi Arabia on 18 February.

In office for just over five weeks, Trump has overturned the policy of his predecessor Joe Biden, who sought to isolate and punish Russia for waging war against Ukraine.

Ukraine and its European allies are worried that Trump’s push to end the conflict swiftly could lead to a deal with Moscow that sidelines them and undermines their security.

The US State Department said Thursday’s talks, which working-level officials will lead, will not include any discussions on Ukraine or political or security issues, but will still be seen as a test of Moscow’s intent.

•British prime minister Keir Starmer will visit the White House today to try to convince president Donald Trump that a lasting peace in Ukraine will endure only if Kyiv and European leaders are at the table as negotiations move forward with Moscow.

•Diplomats from Russia and the United States will meet in Istanbul today to discuss the operation of their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington.

The meeting follows Russia-US talks in Saudi Arabia last week that marked an extraordinary shift in US foreign policy under president Donald Trump and a clear departure from US-led efforts to isolate Russia over its war in Ukraine.

At the talks, Moscow and Washington agreed to start working toward ending the war and improving their diplomatic and economic ties. That includes restoring the staffing at embassies, which in recent years were hit hard by mutual expulsions of large numbers of diplomats and other restrictions.

The embassy official said Ukraine will not be on the agenda.

British prime minister Keir Starmer will on Sunday host leaders of Italy, Germany, Poland and other allies – possibly including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky – to discuss their response to Donald Trump’s push for peace in Ukraine.

The US president has forced a radical rethink of European security, blindsiding leaders by telling them they must raise defence spending and take responsibility for their own security.

Sunday’s meeting will come shortly after Mr Starmer returns from crunch talks with Mr Trump today in Washington, where the British leader hopes his pledge to increase the defence budget will help preserve close ties between the two allies.

“I accept that European allies, the UK included, must do more and that means on capability, coordination and spend,” Mr Starmer told reporters on his way to Washington.

“The coordination bit shouldn’t be overlooked. I was very struck by the lessons we have to learn from Ukraine about the way in which we need to coordinate better in terms of capability and supporting Ukraine.”