The Prime Minister said there had been a ‘very productive’ meeting of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris.
Sir Keir Starmer was praised by leaders in one of his last acts of diplomacy on the world stage.
The Prime Minister said there had been a “very productive” meeting on Monday of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris, as other global leaders took the chance to publicly thank him for his work.
At a press conference after the talks, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke of how positive it had been to work with Sir Keir.
Mr Macron spoke of “how grateful the coalition is as whole to him” and stated “we owe you a lot, Prime Minister”.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz referred to him as “Dear Keir” before thanking him for the “excellent” cooperation they had enjoyed over the last 14 months.
They had “worked closely, intensely, but in great friendship,” he said.
He told Sir Keir: “I will, of course, be pleased to work with your successor but we are sorry to see you leave because, as I have said, we have worked so well together.”
Mr Merz said he hoped to continue a close relationship with Sir Keir and might even “phone you occasionally to get your opinion on this or that”.
Sir Keir said he had also taken the chance in Paris to bid some of his own farewells.
He said: “So, finally, I took the opportunity today to say thank you to all our partners, with whom I proudly stood shoulder-to-shoulder in support of Ukraine.
“I know that, under my successor, the UK’s commitment will remain as strong as ever.
“We will not waiver. Ukraine is the defining cause of our time.”
He said he was certain history would record that “we rose to this moment” and “ultimately, we will help secure the peace that Volodymyr (Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky) and his people so justly deserve”.
Earlier, Sir Keir announced Britain will join the EU’s 90 billion euro (£78 billion) loan for Ukraine.
The loan is intended to help cover Kyiv’s most urgent defence and budgetary needs in 2026 and 2027, with two-thirds of the total allocated to military spending.
The EU has said the loan will be repaid “by reparations due by Russia to Ukraine”.
Sir Keir also said that more needs to be done to support Ukraine and that efforts must continue to ramp up pressure on Russia including going further on sanctions.
There should also be backing for Ukraine’s efforts to secure a just and lasting peace, he said, as he warned that now Russian President Vladimir Putin is “on the back foot, he will try to intimidate us once again, with more talk of escalation and hybrid attacks”.
