Germany has rejected Keir Starmer's peace plan for Britain to deploy troops to Ukraine to support any proposed peacekeeping deal.
The Prime Minister had declared that the UK should take centre stage in post-war security guarantees for Ukraine - which would involve putting British troops "in harm's way" to police a potential ceasefire.
In response, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz slammed the proposal as "completely premature" and "highly inappropriate", admitting that he was "a little irritated" after yesterday's meeting of Europe's leaders in Paris yesterday.
Scholz left the meeting early as rifts between national leaders became evident over the future of a "European army" to maintain the peace.
Olaf Scholz
REUTERS
While Britain, France and Sweden favoured the idea of supporting Ukraine with a peacekeeping force, Germany, Poland and Spain were seemingly reluctant towards the strategy.
"It is completely premature and the completely wrong time to be having this discussion now. I am even a little irritated by these debates," Scholz told reporters.
He explained that such negotiations on troops' deployment were being conducted "over the heads of Ukrainians about the outcome of peace talks that haven't even started".
He added: "This is highly inappropriate, to put it bluntly and honestly – we don’t even know what the outcome will be."
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At a Paris press conference after the three-hour summit, Starmer declared that Europe "had more to do" to protect itself and renewed his promise to deploy British troops to Ukraine.
Scholz added: "The discussion is being held over Ukraine's head, over the outcome of peace talks that have not taken place and to which Ukraine has not said yes...
"This is highly inappropriate, to put it bluntly, and honestly: we don't even know what the outcome will be."
In Saudi Arabia, the first talks between Russia and America have already taken place on Ukraine - which have been described as having gone "well", Russia's chief foreign policy adviser has said.
Yuri Ushakov added that the meeting was "a serious conversation on all issues".
Starmer declared that Europe "had more to do" to protect itself
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Like her German counterpart, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni raised questions surrounding the peacekeeping plan, the Daily Mail has reported.
"It was useful to discuss today the various hypotheses on the table. The one that foresees the deployment of European soldiers in Ukraine seems to me to be the most complex and perhaps the least effective, and on this too I voiced Italy's doubts," sources in her office have said.
Starmer has claimed that such a peacekeeping deal would require the guarantee of a US "backstop" as the "only way to effectively deter Russia".
The PM is set to travel to Washington next week to meet Donald Trump - which is expected to make Starmer the first European leader to meet with the President since the start of his second administration.
