Keir Starmer and NATO chief Mark Rutte make major vow to ensure Ukraine stays 'in fight'

Keir Starmer and NATO’s general secretary Mark Rutte today vowed to make sure Ukraine has the right military capabilities “to keep them in the fight”.

The pair agreed “more pressure, including through sanctions” were needed to force Vladimir Putin to engage with peace talks. Mr Starmer hosted Mr Rutte in Downing Street as Russia’s onslaught against Ukraine continues.

Speaking about their meeting, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: “Turning to Ukraine, the leaders reflected on the situation on the frontline and underscored the need to ensure the country received the right military capabilities to keep them in the fight now.”

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Mr Rutte and Mr Starmer also spoke about how the military work to integrate US support into the plan for the Coalition of the Willing “had progressed well”. But No10 said: “However, more pressure, including through sanctions, needed to be applied to Putin to force him to engage meaningfully with peace talks, they added.”

It comes as Defence Secretary John Healey today said the UK-led international fund to provide Ukraine with military equipment has topped £2billion. The Cabinet minister said allies must "speed up and surge our support" for the war-torn nation as Russia has "stepped up" its attacks.

Moscow has intensified air raids on Ukrainian cities, despite US President Donald Trump's invitation to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to join peace talks.

Yesterday afternoon Mr Healey hosted the 30th meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG), a coalition of over 50 countries that coordinates military support and equipment for the war-torn country.

"We have stepped up our military aid to Ukraine, but Putin has stepped up as well,” he said.

"We must speed up and surge our support to Ukraine. We must get more kit in the hands of Ukrainian fighters even faster. And across members of the UDGC, our defiance, our determination must match that of the Ukrainians."

He said that since the last UDCG meeting in July, the UK has delivered nearly five million rounds of ammunition, 60,000 artillery shells, rockets and missiles and 200 electronic warfare and defence systems.

Britain will also fund the delivery of thousands of long-range one-way attack drones, built in the UK, over the coming year. Mr Healey was joined by Mr Rutte and the Ukrainian and German defence ministers, Denys Shmyhal and Boris Pistorius.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence said British instructors have provided an eight-day training programme for Ukrainian personnel on mobile air defence systems.

The UK gave Ukraine Stormer vehicles fitted with Starstreak anti-air missile launchers in 2022. The recent training equipped Ukrainian soldiers with the skills to operate the Stormer platform armed with either high velocity or lightweight modular missiles, according to the MoD.

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