Western leaders including David Lammy are set to meet with members of Donald Trump‘s team later today as they gather in Munich for crunch talks on defence.
The Foreign Secretary will travel to the Munich Security Conference, where he is expected to attend a G7 meeting and a dinner with his counterparts from the US, France, Italy and Germany.
Ukraine is expected to be top of the conference agenda as Europe responds to Mr Trump’s discussion of a potential peace deal with the Russian president.
The US president reversed American policy on Wednesday, announcing he had spoken to Putin and agreed to ‘work together, very closely’ to end the conflict in Ukraine that began with the Russian invasion three years ago.
The move appears to have formed a rift between the US and Europe, with other G7 countries having talked of solidarity with Kyiv and a willingness to admit Ukraine into the Nato alliance.
Meanwhile, Trump has suggested that as part of a peace deal, Ukraine must accept it will have to give up some territory to Russia, and that Nato membership is not a realistic prospect.
Such comments were reinforced by US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, who yesterday accused critics of failing to recognise ‘hard power realities’.
The former Fox News presenter, in the job for less than a month, also warned that Mr Trump ‘will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker’.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Secretary David Lammy shake hands during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, in February 2025
Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin arrive for a meeting in Helsinki in July 2018
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, on Thursday
In a fiery press conference in Brussels at the end of a meeting of Nato defence ministers, Mr Hegseth accused European allies of ripping off the US.
He later lost his temper when asked what Russia would be asked to give up as part of a peace deal for Ukraine, seemingly unable to answer.
On the issue of Ukrainian territory currently occupied, illegally, by Kremlin troops, Mr Hegseth accused European allies of failing to recognise the state of the battlefield – a tacit acknowledgement that Russia can keep the ground it has seized.
He also repeated President Trump’s mantra of ‘peace through strength’ and vowed to ‘Make Nato Great Again’.
His address, which stunned UK and Ukrainian officials, came across as US isolationism writ large and a return to American foreign policy from the pre-World War Two era.
Sir Ben Wallace, who was UK defence secretary when Putin launched his invasion, said if Trump capitulated to the Kremlin it would be a repeat of Chamberlain’s ‘peace in our time’ moment in Munich in 1938.
Sir Ben said: ‘What a shame that this year’s gathering in Munich seems set to mirror the disastrous conference of 1938, where the continent stood blind to the face of Hitler’s duplicity.
‘The stench of appeasement is once again returning to Munich. The same fate as Chamberlain awaits the West, whether in the Taiwan Strait, in Iran or in Europe if it fails to stand strong now. And, like 87 years ago, it will have its roots in Munich.’
Sir Ben Wallace (pictured) said if Trump capitulated to the Kremlin it would be a repeat of Chamberlain’s ‘peace in our time’ moment in Munich in 1938.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin shake hands before attending a joint press conference after a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, in 2018
Sir Ben, who led Britain’s support for Ukraine and supplied the country with tanks and long-range missiles, was backed by top European diplomat Kaja Kallas who warned the US against making secret deals.
It emerged yesterday that Britain and other Nato allies were completely blindsided by the timing of the 47th President’s call with his Russian counterpart and its content, which was announced via Mr Trump’s own social media site.
Without any prior discussions with the UK, Ukraine or other partners, President Trump arbitrarily he would begin peace negotiations with Russia ‘immediately’.
All Nato members knew was that a conversation between the two presidents was due to happen at some point soon.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer stood up for Ukraine, providing his backing for the country joining Nato, which was supported by MPs in the House of Commons.
Sir Keir said: ‘My position is the Nato position. This was discussed at the summit we had last year in Washington, where it was agreed unanimously among all Nato members there would be an irreversible path of Ukraine to Nato membership.
‘Nobody was expecting Nato membership to be immediate. It was a pathway over time. But what most, I think, is that we stand by Ukraine.’
Sir Keir also rejected President Trump’s flattery of President Putin, whom the US leader has called ‘a genius’ and ‘savvy’.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks with Donald Trump via a phone line, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv,on Wednesday
Keir Starmer speaking during the weekly session of PMQs at the House of Commons, in London, on Wednesday
The PM said: ‘Putin is the aggressor here. This conflict could be ended tomorrow if Putin withdrew his troops.
‘And so for me, that would be simplest and the quickest way to end this conflict.’
As well as his meetings with the G7 and the Quint, Mr Lammy is expected to take part in an event on Ukraine and meet representatives from European, Middle Eastern and North American nations.
Mr Lammy will be joined by the Defence Secretary, John Healey, who has already attended a Nato meeting and chaired a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group this week.
