Sir Keir Starmer called for Russia to be given a “deadline” to begin negotiating peace with Ukraine, at a summit of fellow European leaders in Paris. The Prime Minister condemned President Putin as “not a serious player” in the current peace talks, warning that the Russian dictator’s promises are “hollow”.

Sir Keir met with President Zelenskyy and French premier Emmanuel Macron in the latest talks for his planned ‘coalition of the willing’. The PM announced that British military chiefs will shortly visit the war-torn Eastern European country to begin developing “operational” plans for enforcing a potential ceasefire. European leaders accused Russia of “dragging their feet”, “filibustering”, and “playing games and playing for times”.

Sir Keir observed: “It is a classic from the Putin playbook.”

He added: “This week in London we hosted over 200 military planners from 30 countries. Coming forward with contributions on everything from logistics and command and control, to deployments on land, air and sea. That work continues at pace.

“We will be ready to operationalise a peace deal whatever its precise shape turns out to be. And we will work together to ensure Ukraine’s security so it can defend and deter against future attacks.”

Asked about his call for a “deadline” for Putin to begin seriously engaging in peace talks, Sir Keir said he would not put a “hard deadline” on Russia when pressed for details.

He argued: “I don’t want to put a hard deadline on this, but we need to see this developing in days and weeks, not months and months, and we need to move on to that space.”

After a walkabout in Paris with the Ukrainian leader, Sir Keir reiterated Britain’s support in a joint press conference.

Sir Keir told reporters: “We’ve just had a very constructive meeting of the coalition of the willing, bigger than we’ve had before - 30 countries plus NATO and the EU.

“I’m absolutely determined to see peace through strength, there was absolute clarity that Russia is trying to delay, is playing games and we have to be absolutely clear about that.”

He outlined three resolutions, including more support for Ukraine; clarity that now is not the time to lift sanctions on Russia; and plans for reassuring the peace with military power on land, in the air and at sea.

He told President Zelenskyy: “Volodymyr, you have our support, you must have felt that in the room, and you have our full support as long as it takes.”

In return President Zelenskyy thanked Sir Keir for his support and commended the leadership of France and Britain.

He added: “I think that Keir said all the outcomes that are very important for us - no lifting of any kind of sanctions until Russia stops this war, more pressure and more sanctions is important.

“The second point is new packages of support for Ukraine, and we heard some leaders’ new packages, we’re thankful for those. We heard with a common voice how to push Russia and everybody understands that Russia doesn’t want any kind of peace. That is very important.

“We will work on security guarantees over the coming weeks and days, and this is very important to think about our future.”

The Prime Minister suggested that MPs will be given the opportunity to vote on deploying British troops in Ukraine.

He told reporters in Paris: “You know my longstanding position, which is, if we were to deploy in any scenario on a long term basis, then of course, parliament should have a say in that.”

Yesterday President Zelenskyy accused Russia of breaking the agreed ceasefire over targeting energy production. He said that an energy facility in the Kherson region was attacked by Russian strikes yesterday, and called for a US response.

European leaders agreed that now is “not the time” to begin lifting economic sanctions on Russia, however President Macron said there is currently no continent-wide agreement on sending European troops to uphold any peace deal.

Italian premier Georgia Meloni, an ally of President Trump’s who has ruled out sending her country’s troops to Ukraine as part of the coalition of the willing, called on the US to be involved at the next summit.