Sir Keir Starmer is heading to Paris to meet EU leaders for a crisis meeting over Ukraine, as Washington looks to shut out Kyiv and its European allies from US-Russia peace talks in the Middle East. 

Jean-Noël Barrot, the French foreign minister, confirmed the emergency meeting on Sunday, with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, saying leaders would address “the situation in Ukraine” and “security in Europe”. 

Mr Macron’s office said: “As a result of what US leaders are saying, there is a need for Europeans to do more, better and in a coherent way, for our collective security.”

It comes after Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine, said Europe would not be directly involved in talks on Ukraine between Washington and Moscow, which are expected to begin in Saudi Arabia in the coming days. 

Leaders from Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark are expected in Paris, as well as Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. 

Mr Kellogg is also expected to meet Mr Rutte at Nato headquarters in Brussels on Monday. 

The Prime Minister announced on Sunday that he was ready to send British troops to Ukraine as part of any postwar peacekeeping force, stating that any peace in Ukraine “cannot merely become a temporary pause before Putin attacks again”.