SECURITY: Call With Trump Made Progress On Ukraine Security Guarantees - Starmer

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has stated, ahead of a virtual meeting of the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ of Ukraine backers, that the group has “military plans ready that could used, if there is a ceasefire [in Ukraine].”

• Starmer’s comments come after an emergency call with US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, European leaders, and security officials this morning, which appears to have delivered some progress on European priorities for Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
• Starmer said, echoing other European leaders' post-call comments, that “talks about ceasefire have to sit alongside credible security guarantee [for Ukraine].” Starmer added that, “we made real progress on security guarantees in call with Trump earlier,” addressing concerns in European capitals that Trump might look to strike an unfavourable deal with Putin that exchanges occupied territory for a ceasefire.
• Starmer continued: “We stand ready to increase pressure on Russian economy through sanctions and other measures as needed”.
• US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg TV this morning that sanctions on Russia "can go up" or "can be loosened" depending on the outcome of the Trump-Putin summit.
• Bessent said that European states need to be prepared to join harsher secondary sanctions and tariffs: “It’s put up or shut up time. We put secondary tariffs on the Indians for buying Russian oil. And I could see if things don’t go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up.”