Starmer says ‘we are at a crossroads in history’ as he announces additional £1.6bn package for Ukraine – live

French president, Emmanuel Macron, has offered his take on today’s talks in London in a one-line comment on social media.

He posted a photo of all leaders involved in the summit and said:

At the table in London, we are all determined to take action for a strong and lasting peace in Ukraine and to ensure our collective security.

Speaking to Italian reporters after the meeting, Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni praised the talks on a “very delicate, complex” situation, saying that the key aim for her was to not allow for the west to be divided in its preferred approach to resolving the crisis.

She praised Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for his “rational” analysis despite the explosive meeting in the Oval Office on Friday, and said he was looking for solutions out of this situation.

She said there was no single specific plan for deployment on troops yet, but more general ideas that still need to be discussed further, but she confirmed there are no plans for sending Italian troops to Ukraine.

Meloni added that the focus was on finding a path to a “lasting” peace, urging leaders to “think outside the box” on potential transatlantic solutions that wound not necessarily involve a membership of Nato.

She also voiced her scepticism about the idea of a European nuclear umbrella, as she warned it could lead to a “disengagement” by the US.

• British prime minister, Keir Starmer, has announced details of a new £1.6bn export finance contract for Ukraine allowing it “to buy more than 5,000 air defence missiles” to help the country’s defence against Russia after a London summit with European, Turkish and Canadian leaders.

• Starmer also confirmed plans to form “a coalition of the willing” to enforce a potential peace deal in Ukraine, which he said the UK was prepared “to back with boots on the ground and planes in the air”.

• Starmer insisted the US under Donald Trump was still a reliable ally, and hinted that he talked about his plans with the US president.

• Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, said a number of Nato countries signalled their plans to increase defence spending, as he urged media to “stop gossiping about what the US might or might not do”, and insisted the country remained committed to Nato.

• European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said there was a growing realisation that we “urgently have to re-arm Europe”, and said Europeans wanted to work on “basically turning Ukraine into a steel porcupine that is indigestible for potential invaders”.

• Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said he hoped the EU’s plans to be unveiled next week would “send a very clear impulse showing Putin and Russia that no one here, in the west, intends to surrender to his blackmail and aggression”.

• But Tusk revealed that the allied countries were not fully aligned on seizing Russian assets in the west, as some countries “feared the consequences either for the euro or the banking system”.

• Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, offered a passionate defence of Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying that in his comments in the Oval Office on Friday “he pointed out in so many words that Vladimir Putin is a liar and a criminal and cannot be trusted to keep his word in any way”.

Trudeau also gets questions about Canada’s defence spending, which remains below the 2% Nato target (1.37% as per last Nato data).

He says “the world has changed”, as “the time of peace that we had after the cold war has been upended”.

“It is now necessary for countries to be spending significantly more on defence, and Canada is no exception,” he says.

He also is asked about whether he sees the US under Trump as an ally, and he strongly defends the relationship, saying the US “will always be an ally”.

Trudeau offers his strong backing for Ukraine’s Zelenskyy when asked what he thought of the way the Ukrainian leader was treated during the talks with the US administration in the Oval Office on Friday.

Here is what he said:

It’s important at every chance we get to lay out the facts as clearly as possible.

In 2014 Russia chose to invade Ukraine, to occupy Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine. For that, they were kicked out of the G7 and in 2022 they chose to violate the existing cease fire and invaded Ukraine with the intention of taking Kyiv in three days and the entire country in three weeks.

That has failed.

Russia continues to try to fight to claim more land in Ukraine.

We could see an end to this war tomorrow if Russia decided to stop its illegal invasion of Ukraine.

On Friday in the Oval Office, President Zelenskyy pointed out in so many words that Vladimir Putin is a liar and a criminal and cannot be trusted to keep his word in any way, shape or form, because he has demonstrated time and time again that he will break any agreements.

I stand with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and I stand with the people of Ukraine.

Canada’s Trudeau says the country “has been one of the strongest countries in support of Ukraine from the beginning”, having trained “up to 40,000 Ukrainian troops”

Asked specifically if Canada could offer troops to any peacekeeping force, he says:

Canada has looked at the ways it can best help and as I’ve said a few days ago, everything’s on the table …

We’re not going to get ahead of the discussions on how to keep a peace that isn’t yet in place, but Canada will be there and is open to doing what is necessary.

Trudeau also says he will meet with King Charles on Monday, and will discuss issues of importance.

I can tell you that nothing seems more important to Canadians right now than standing up for our sovereignty and our independence as a nation.

Let’s listen in.

We’re now getting more details on the new £1.6bn export funding contract for Ukraine, from the UK government.

The new arrangement “will provide a major boost to the UK economy and support 700 existing jobs at Thales in Belfast, which will manufacture more than 5,000 lightweight-multirole missiles (LMM) for Ukraine’s defence”, it said.

The deal will see production of LMMs at Thales’s factory treble and will also benefit companies in the Thales Supply Chain across the UK – putting more money in working people’s pockets.

It is the largest contract ever received by Thales in Belfast and the second largest MOD has placed with Thales, building on a previous contract with Thales, signed in September 2024 for 650 missiles. The first batch of missiles were delivered before Christmas, and this new contract will continue deliveries.

In total, the new export financing contact “will enable Ukraine to draw on £3.5bn of export finance to acquire military equipment from UK companies”, it said.

Poland’s Tusk also revealed there was “no unity” on seizing Russian assets in the west, as even as all leaders agreed it was a good idea, some countries “feared the consequences either for the euro or the banking system”.

“Poland is very strongly pressing for this, but, let’s be real, as we are not in the eurozone, our voice in this discussion will not be decisive,” he said.

But he insisted on the importance of extending EU sanctions against Russia when they expire, despite Hungary’s threat of a veto.

Poland’s Tusk also spoke about the need to propose a format for Europe, Turkey and Canada to get involved to put together “a concrete plan for negotiations” with Russia.

“We all get a sense at this moment that no one has a plan for it, and that sense of chaos, makeshift approach … sometimes sparks emotions like we have seen in that unseemly spectacle in Washington a few days ago, which we all would rather avoid,” he said.

He added that leaders needed to “calmly propose a systematic, common” position to shape the future negotiations on behalf of the allied countries.

He also said that he hoped that unity of those who attended would make an impression on Donald Trump and help him look more favourably at some of Ukraine’s requests.

Tusk also revealed that many leaders spoke about their impressions of Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump, with some hitting “gloomy” notes, but all insisting the need for unity.

He also said the leaders did not discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, and once again warned that any such declaration would need to be strictly binding to not offer “false illusion of security”.

He stressed that Poland had no intention to deploy troops to Ukraine.

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk hailed the meeting as “historic,” and said it came at a time of “a great challenge for entire Europe, not just the EU and Ukraine.”

He said there was “no doubt who is the aggressor and who is the aggressed, and who has got Europe on their side, but confirmed there was talk about “taking on more responsibility” for military and defence funding by European countries.

He repeated that Poland is Nato’s top spender with 4.7% GDP, and added that he was happy “that more and more countries go beyond words and declarations … to increase spending.”

He also rejected any suggestions of a lasting rift between Europe and the US, as he insisted “we cannot let it happen.”

“Fortunately, all without any exceptions and regardless of any emotions we may feel, want our transatlantic, EU-US relations to be as strong as possible,” he said.

Talking about next week’s summit of the European Council, he said he was looking at it with “cautious optimism” that it would “send a very clear impulse showing Putin and Russia that no one here, in the west, intends to surrender to his blackmail and aggression.”

Jakub Krupa

That concludes Starmer’s press conference.

Poland’s Tusk and Germany’s Scholz have been speaking in parallel.

I will bring you the key lines from their press conferences now.

Starmer says that any final deal “will have to involve Russia”, but it should not dictate the guarantees that can be offered to Ukraine given the history of Russian breaches in the past.

“That is precisely the situation that I think we need to avoid this time around, which is why we’re going down this road,” he says.