Sweden 'ready to send troops' for Ukraine truce

Sweden has said it would not rule out sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine if necessary after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was ready to deploy troops.

The comments came as European leaders were to meet Monday in Paris to discuss US President Donald Trump's plans to begin talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin "very soon" on ending the war in Ukraine, sidelining Kiev and Europe.

"We must first now negotiate a fair and sustainable peace that respects international law, that respects Ukraine and that ensures above all else that Russia can't just withdraw and regroup and attack Ukraine or another country within a few years," Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told public radio Sveriges Radio.

"When we have such a peace in place, it will need to be maintained and for that our government is not ruling out anything," she said.

The prime minister of neighbouring Norway, Jonas Gahr Store, said "the time has not yet come" to discuss putting troops on the ground.

"It is not yet time to draw any conclusions about how a security guarantee should be formulated and the kind of contributions to be made," he told public radio NRK.

Starmer wrote in the Daily Telegraph late Sunday that he was willing to put "our own troops on the ground if necessary".

"Any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine's security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent and the security of this country," he wrote.

Store said he had spoken early Monday with Starmer.

"Norway and the UK are well aligned on continued support for Ukraine, with a clear expectation that Ukraine must have a seat at the (negotiating) table and that Europe must participate with a unified message in future peace negotiations," he wrote on X.