Sir Keir Starmer has announced he is “ready and willing” to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine to enforce any peace deal.

In an exclusive article for The Telegraph, the Prime Minister said he had not taken the decision to consider putting British servicemen and women “in harm’s way” lightly.

It is the first time he has explicitly said he is considering deploying British peacekeepers to Ukraine, and comes ahead of a meeting with European leaders in Paris on Monday.

The emergency gathering was called by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, after it emerged that European leaders had not been invited to early Ukraine peace talks between the US and Russia, and senior members of Donald Trump’s administration signalled that US security support for Europe would be scaled back.

Sir Keir’s decision to speak out will put pressure on allies – especially a reluctant Germany – to publicly back the idea of a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine. The Prime Minister also suggested Britain could play a “unique role” as a bridge between Europe and the US in the Ukraine peace process.

The foreign ministers of Russia and the US will meet in Saudi Arabia on Monday to kick off talks over a peace agreement.

Ukraine has not been invited to the negotiating table and Sir Keir warned against cutting Kyiv out of the talks, likening it to the US decision to cut the Afghan government out of negotiations over the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.