Downing Street Refuses To Echo Trump’s Claim That Vladimir Putin ‘Wants To End The War’

Downing Street has refused to echo Donald Trump’s claim that Vladimir Putin “wants to end the war” in Ukraine.

The US president said last week that he believes his Russian counterpart’s claims that he wants peace.

“He wants to end the war and once ended, and I think he’s going to be more generous than he has to be,” Trump said.

But Keir Starmer’s official spokesman today insisted that Putin could demonstrate his commitment to peace by ending the war himself.

He said: “We all want to see an end to this war and it’s in Russia’s gift to end it – it can withdraw its forces at any time.

“We are working with the Ukrainians and the US, France and others to develop credible peace plan proposals, necessary security guarantees and secure a lasting peace.”

Asked a second time whether the prime minister believes Putin wants peace, the spokesman said: “We’ve seen from President Putin’s illegal, barbaric invasion that he will stop at nothing to achieve his aims.

“We share President Trump’s desire to reach peace. No one wants peace more than the Ukrainian people, who have suffered over the last few years.”

The spokesman said he would “not trust President Putin’s intentions” and added: “He has propagated an illegal invasion of Ukraine which has seen significant suffering and death.

“He has sent his own sons and daughters to their deaths in pursuit of his own imperialist ambitions.

“Clearly we want to see peace. We will engage with the US and others to develop those peace plans.”

Starmer is working with France and Ukraine to develop a peace plan to present to President Trump.

The PM is also pulling together a “coalition of the willing” of countries which could help ensure any ceasefire is permanent.