British troops could be sent to Ukraine to help train the country’s soldiers - defence secretary suggests

 

Europe should focus its efforts on supporting Ukraine and not engage in premature calls for peace negotiations, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said. “We have to talk how we can support Ukraine more. Any push for negotiations too soon will actually be a bad deal for Ukraine,” Kallas said before a summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

Her comments are similar in tone to those made by Lithuania’s president,

Gitanas Nauseda

Also speaking before the summit of EU leaders in Brussels, Nauseda said it is too early to talk about possible peace negotiations in Ukraine as Russia shows no interest in real peace at the moment. “Russia is showing no willingness to negotiate and I think in this situation we have to do everything what is in our hands to support Ukraine and to make Ukraine strong and only then to proceed and to go to the negotiations table,” he said.

Ukrainian President

facing manpower shortages and growing territorial losses, has indicated that he may be open to negotiations with Russia, though he has said this has to be from a position of strength, which means security guarantees from the west and more weapons.