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UK Spearheads Military Planning Discussions for Postwar Ukraine

UK Spearheads Military Planning Discussions for Postwar Ukraine

Bloomberg20-03-2025

By and Alex Wickham
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Western allies will begin talks to hammer out the detailed military plans underpinning an Anglo-French-led peacekeeping force, stepping up preparations for postwar Ukraine despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's rejection of a full ceasefire.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will join the second meeting of military chiefs in northwest London on Thursday after first 'laying the keel' for the first in the next generation of Britain's nuclear-armed submarines, a symbolic gesture to highlight the country's enduring commitment to maintaining an atomic deterrent.

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