UK Defence Secretary John Healey is set to meet with his Norwegian counterpart, Tore Sandvik, as Europe grapples with the future of Ukraine and the continent’s broader security.
The high-level talks come amid growing pressure from the US for European countries to ramp up defence spending, as tensions rise over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This development follows recent US-Russia talks aimed at brokering peace in Ukraine, led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. However, Ukraine was notably excluded from the Riyadh negotiations, as were other European nations.
European leaders, already sidelined by the peace talks, are now facing increasing demands from US President Donald Trump and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to contribute more towards the financial and military support for Kyiv.
In response to the crisis, Labour leader Keir Starmer has urged Trump to provide a security guarantee as part of any Ukraine peace settlement, asserting that this is the only way to effectively deter Russia from future aggression against Ukraine. The Prime Minister, for his part, expressed readiness to deploy British troops to participate in peacekeeping efforts, should the situation require it.
However, during Monday’s emergency meeting of European leaders, countries like Germany resisted calls to deploy European forces to oversee any potential ceasefire agreements.
On Tuesday, Defence Secretary Healey acknowledged that discussions on a US security guarantee for Ukraine were underway and warned that the decisions made in the coming weeks will have long-lasting implications on global security. He emphasised the need for European nations to “step up” their defence spending, noting that many countries are already increasing their military budgets.
Economists from the Institute for Fiscal Studies have cautioned that boosting the UK’s defence spending, while maintaining other public services, may require additional tax increases. Ministers have indicated that they will wait until the conclusion of the strategic defence review before outlining the specifics of how they intend to meet the UK’s commitment to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.
