# Europe has a lot to do before it can exert real influence on a Ukraine peace deal

The continent’s role in any ceasefire will be limited unless countries commit more to Kyiv and the Zelenskyy-Trump relationship is repaired

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## Sun 2 Mar 2025 14.33 EST

Last modified on Mon 3 Mar 2025 09.27 EST

Europe and the UK are hoping they are on the brink of assembling a credible military coalition that Donald Trump can only refuse to support at risk of  – an alliance many grassroots Republicans reject.

The plan is a long shot since it requires enough countries inside Nato to offer practical support to such a coalition of the willing, and also needs , the Ukrainian president, to patch up his relations with Donald Trump following Friday’s Oval Office meeting.

It also requires Europe – alongside Zelenskyy – putting together the terms of a ceasefire that can be put to the US, so preventing the Trump administration sealing a deal with Russia that leaves Europe and  out in the cold.

For the moment the argument, raging in every European capital, about whether America can any longer be treated as a reliable ally – as  insisted it remains – will be parked since Trump’s intentions can be tested by challenging him not to leave Europe without support if a coalition of the willing enters Ukraine to police a ceasefire.

British sources insisted that more countries made promises to offer a contribution at the summit in London on Sunday, and for the first time Starmer talked in terms of the coalition enforcing a ceasefire through troops on the ground and forces in the air.

But he was reluctant to make announcements about troop contributions on behalf of countries that still need to consult domestically, so in practical terms leaving the concept of the ceasefire enforcement force not far advanced from the meeting hosted by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, in Paris a fortnight ago.

As yet the US president has refused to say he is willing to provide the US backstop Starmer has said is vital, but the UK is slowly assembling the case that history shows  cannot be trusted to abide by the ceasefire.

It was this expression of distrust in the Russian president by Zelenskyy in the Oval Office last Friday that prompted the no-holds-barred row between Zelenskyy and Trump on the one hand and his vice-president, JD Vance, on the other.

Starmer, and the rest of , have sided with Zelenskyy by insisting in the end Russia cannot dictate the terms of a security deal, adding any deal would need defending. The test on Trump’s intentions, if he is presented with a credible European plan, will be if he rejects all US involvement. “Europe must do the heavy lifting, but to support peace in our continent, and to succeed, this effort must have strong US backing,” Starmer said.

The subheading of this article was amended on 3 March 2025 because an earlier version gave the spelling of Ukraine’s capital as “Kiev” rather than Kyiv.
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