Keir Starmer demands British troops remain in Ukraine under peace deal in direct challenge to Vladimir Putin

According to The Telegraph, he said: "Our military planners have worked really hard in recent months and will continue to work on the readiness of that force.

"And I urge colleagues on the call this afternoon to firm up national commitments because we need to ensure we’ve got the most robust capability and the most robust plans on the table.

"We must come back to this with a strong political guarantee to show Russia we’re serious about responding to any violation. And it’s only if Russia believes we’re seriously responding to a violation that this will underpin a lasting peace."

During the meeting, reports emerged Washington and Kyiv were ironing out minor details of the deal, in a major breakthrough that could see the end to the devastating four-year conflict. However, Sir Keir quickly shut down any speculation that an agreement was done.

"My understanding is this is not a new agreement, it is Ukraine confirming they are happy with the draft that emerged in Geneva yesterday, which of course doesn’t cover the question of territory," he told MPs.

"So my best understanding is this is a confirmation of basically what came out of Geneva but it isn’t a new set of proposals or agreements in any way."

Ukrainian officials suggested the most controversial demands have been removed from the latest draft of the document, with Sir Keir keen to keep British troops within the region.

The original 28-point plan, generally considered to favour Russia and was created following US talks with the Kremlin, demanded Ukraine surrender the remainder of the eastern Donbas region, halve its armed forces to 600,000 and agree to a total ban on foreign troops on Ukrainian soil.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, told Axios the new plan looks "very solid", adding, "I think it’s a historical decision of President Trump and the United States to issue these strong security guarantees, which Ukraine never had before."

However, Moscow seem defiant to any major changes.

Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said the original 28-point plan was "welcomed" by Moscow and suggested any changes to it would be swiftly rejected in talks with the US.

He claimed "if the spirit and letter of Anchorage are erased from the key understandings we have documented, then, of course, the situation will be fundamentally different", adding the original document had been drafted following an agreement between the US and Russian leader during their peace summit in Alaska last August.

Despite this, French president Emmanuel Macron said there is a chance to make "real progress toward a good peace", but insisted on "very robust security guarantees, and not paper guarantees."

"Ukraine has had its share of promises that were shattered by successive Russian aggressions. And real rock-solid guarantees are a necessity," Mr Macron added.

On Tuesday, Mr Macron said the UK, France and Turkey were working on plans for a "reassurance force" which could be deployed to strategic areas, such as Kyiv or Odesa, as soon as a ceasefire comes into effect.

"French, British and Turkish soldiers will be present when a peace is signed to conduct training and security operations," he told French broadcaster RTL. "We never planned to be on the front line."

Mr Macron also warned against an agreement that amounts to the "capitulation" of Ukraine and which encouraged Putin "to go further towards other Europeans and puts all of our security in danger".

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