The blue and yellow flag of Ukraine billowed above Britain’s government buildings Monday, as it has every day since Russia’s invasion began nearly three years ago. Inside, officials were making calculations that will test the extent to which that gesture of solidarity could prove a hollow one.
On Sunday, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to put British boots on the ground as part of a theoretical future peacekeeping force protecting a ceasefire in Ukraine. But given the stretched state of his military, that’s a commitment he lacks the financial firepower to deliver.
"We have got to show we are truly serious about our own defense and bearing our own burden. We have talked about it for too long — and president Trump is right to demand that we get on with it,” Starmer wrote.
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