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Sir Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, will urge G20 leaders to “double down” on their support for Ukraine, as he seeks to rally support for Kyiv ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president in January.
In a thinly veiled swipe at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who this week spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Starmer said: “It’s a matter for Chancellor Scholz who he speaks to. I have no plans to speak to Putin.”
Starmer hopes that Joe Biden will supply Ukraine with billions of dollars of loans in the dying days of his presidency and has also been pressing for US support to allow Kyiv to fire UK and French Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russian territory.
Speaking ahead of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Starmer said: “I am going to make shoring up support for Ukraine top of my agenda as we go into the G20 because we’ve seen 1,000 days of aggression, 1,000 days of sacrifice by the Ukrainians.”
Starmer said that involvement of North Korean troops alongside the Russian military had additional “security implications” for Europe and in the Pacific.
“I think it’s really important we double down and give Ukraine the support that it needs for as long as it needs it,” Starmer said. “Obviously, I’m not going to get into discussing capabilities. You wouldn’t expect me to do that.”
“We cannot allow Putin to win, I think that would be extremely bad for security in Europe, I think with the North Korean element it will be extremely bad for security in the Indo-Pacific.”
Starmer discussed Ukraine over dinner with Trump in New York in September, and said that he had a “constructive relationship” with the president-elect.
“It’s a special relationship forged in difficult circumstances historically,” he said. “And I intend to make sure that it’s as strong going forward as it’s ever been.”
Starmer declined to say whether he anticipated Trump being invited on a state visit to London, a move supported by new Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.
“I’ve had a constructive meeting with president-elect Trump a few weeks ago, a constructive discussion with him on the phone the other day, but I’m not going to get ahead of things,” he said. Asked if he was ruling out a state visit, he said: “No.”
Trump made a state visit to Britain in 2019 during his first presidency.