DEFENCE Secretary John Healey said today that British troops should be the first to join a peace-keeping force in Ukraine as activist slam the plans as “partisan” and “not neutral.”

Ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr Healey claimed that sending British soldiers in this function would “finally” mark the end of the conflict and vowed that “2026 must be the year this terrible war ends.”

“I want to be the defence secretary who deploys British troops to Ukraine — because this will mean that this war is finally over,” he wrote in the Telegraph.

“It will mean we have negotiated peace in Ukraine. And a secure Europe needs a strong, sovereign Ukraine.”

Stop the War Coalition (STW) hit back, saying that any such force to be decided on by “both sides.”

A STW spokeswoman told the Star: “Healey calls it a peace-keeping force but it isn’t. Peace-keepers are neutral. British soldiers sent to Ukraine will be partisan, as he and the government are.

“It may be that a genuine peace-keeping force is needed to police whatever deal is finally struck to end this war, but it will need to be drawn from countries acceptable to both sides — and that’s hardly likely to include a supplier of missiles that have been fired deep into Russian territory.

Mr Healey co-chaired meetings in Brussels earlier this month with members of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group and Nato defence ministers which saw allies pledge £25 billion to Ukraine.

His statements follow talks led by Britain and France to build a “coalition of the willing” to deploy a joint peace-keeping force if an end to the war is negotiated.