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Starmer hosts war talks
Prime Minister Keir Starmer (center) and Defence Secretary John Healey(centre left) during a visit to a military base in south east England to meet with military planners mapping out next steps in the Coalition of the Willing, March 20, 2025

BRITAIN hosted a meeting of military chiefs in a bid to block a Ukraine peace deal today after Sir Keir Starmer visited a nuclear weapons submarine to boost his bellicose posturing.

The Prime Minister attended the war meeting after returning from Barrow, where he inspected HMS Vanguard, one of Britain’s Trident-armed vessels.

The Ukraine meeting involved 20 states in Sir Keir’s “coalition of the willing” discussing sending a “peace-keeping” force to Ukraine, although Russia has made it clear that the presence of Western troops on its borders is a non-starter in peace negotiations.

The war-makers gathered at the British military’s joint headquarters at Northwood, on the edge of London to discuss moving their plans into an “operational” phase.

However, Sir Keir has insisted that the force could only operate with a US “backstop” and such a commitment has not been forthcoming from the Trump administration.

Beating the war drum, Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard said: “Putin won’t stop if he wins in Ukraine.

“If he subjugates the entirety of Ukraine — which is his plan and has been for many years — he will simply rearm and look where else he can extend his influence and his domination.”

He said that Britain aimed to put “some boots on the ground” in Ukraine and that the force would also have strong air and maritime components.

Sir Keir used his Barrow trip to boost his case that military spending will benefit economically depressed regions of the country.

He also claimed that Russia feared Britain because “we’ve got our own independent deterrent and we're committed to Nato.”

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