Rishi Sunak: UK and Europe must consider ‘military presence’ in Ukraine

Rishi Sunak has said Britain and Europe should consider providing Ukraine with a “military presence across land, air and sea”, in the event of a peace deal.

The comments come after US president Donald Trump claimed that he and Russian premier Vladimir Putin had agreed to start talks on ending the conflict.

Sunak said: “In this new world and in the event of any peace deal… the United Kingdom and its European allies must lead in providing Ukraine with military support and potentially military presence across land, air and sea.”

He added: “Can I assure the government that it will have my support if that’s what it decides to do?”

Defence minister Maria Eagle responded: “I can confirm that we aim to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position to enable it to negotiate, and that involves continuing to supply them with the with the arms and weapons that they need in order to fight, because fighting is still going on.”

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