The meeting was the third of its kind since Starmer earlier this month announced he would work to bring together nations who could guarantee any cessation of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine.
"Europe's two leading nuclear powers are stepping up to forge a stronger and deeper partnership that has a vital foundational role to play in the security of the continent," said Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin afterwards.
"Today's deliberations will help shape the future of British and French military co-operation, and our shared efforts to support Ukraine with military aid now and after any peace deal," he added.
After the meeting, the defence chiefs met King Charles III -- head of the British armed forces -- at Windsor Castle, west of London.
Starmer's Downing Street office said it was continuing to keep the US updated on military planning meetings.
"The coalition of the willing is a group of nations politically aligned to the defence, security and sovereignty of Ukraine ... if there is a deal, it's a deal that has to be defended," his official spokesman said.
Starmer has been leading efforts to form the group alongside French President Emmanuel Macron since US President Donald Trump opened direct negotiations with Russia last month to end the three-year war.
But questions remain over what the group might be able to do after Putin demanded an end to Western military aid to Ukraine as a condition for any end to fighting.
Starmer and Macron have said they are willing to put British and French troops on the ground in Ukraine, but Russia has said that it would not agree to soldiers from NATO countries being deployed there.
The prime minister has said he welcomes any offer of support for the group, raising the prospect that some countries could contribute logistics or surveillance.
Monday's meeting was attended by the heads of the British and French armies, navies and air forces as well as the head of both countries' defence forces.
US, Russia in Ukraine ceasefire talks as 65 wounded in latest strike
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (AFP) Mar 24, 2025 -
US and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss a partial ceasefire in Ukraine on Monday as dozens of people were wounded in a missile strike on a Ukrainian city.
With Ukrainian negotiators waiting nearby, a day after they sat down with the US team, the Americans and Russians met in Riyadh with a Black Sea ceasefire top of the agenda.
President Donald Trump is pushing for a rapid end to the three-year war and hopes the latest round of talks will pave the way for a breakthrough.
While the talks took place at a luxury hotel in the Saudi capital, 65 people were wounded in a missile attack on Sumy in northeastern Ukraine, officials said.
The attack on a "densely populated residential area" damaged apartments and an educational facility, the regional prosecutor's office said. The city's acting mayor earlier said a hospital had been affected.
The Ukrainian negotiating team was expecting a second meeting with the US delegation on Monday, a source in Kyiv told AFP, a sign that progress may have been made.
- 'Trump's proposal and Putin agreed' -
This month in Jeddah -- days after President Volodymyr Zelensky's White House dressing-down by Trump -- Ukraine agreed to a US-proposed, 30-day ceasefire that was then rejected by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Officials are now studying a possible resumption of the Black Sea Initiative, a year-long agreement that allowed millions of tonnes of grain and other food exports to be shipped from Ukraine's ports.
"The issue of the Black Sea Initiative and all aspects related to the renewal of this initiative is on the agenda today," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in his daily briefing.
"This was President Trump's proposal and President Putin agreed to it. It was with this mandate that our delegation travelled to Riyadh."
The US-Ukraine and US-Russia talks were originally planned to take place simultaneously to enable shuttle diplomacy, with the United States going back and forth between the delegations.
The US team is led by Andrew Peek, a senior director at the White House National Security Council, and senior State Department official Michael Anton, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.
Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who heads the Ukrainian team, said Sunday's talks with the United States were "productive and focused".
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff has voiced optimism that any agreement would pave the way for a "full-on" ceasefire.
"I think you're going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress, particularly as it affects a Black Sea ceasefire on ships between both countries," he told Fox News.
"And from that you'll naturally gravitate to a full-on shooting ceasefire."
- 'Only at the beginning' -
But the Kremlin has downplayed expectations of a rapid resolution.
"We are only at the beginning of this path," Peskov told Russian state TV on Sunday, adding: "There are difficult negotiations ahead."
When Putin, in a lengthy phone call with Trump, rebuffed the joint US-Ukrainian call for a full and immediate 30-day pause, he proposed instead a halt in attacks on energy facilities.
The traditional adversaries are now discussing the return of the Black Sea Initiative, which was originally brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in 2022.
Russia pulled out of the agreement in 2023, accusing the West of failing to uphold its commitments to ease sanctions on Russia's own exports of farm produce and fertilisers.
A senior Ukrainian official previously told AFP that Kyiv would propose a broader ceasefire, covering attacks on energy facilities, infrastructure and naval strikes.
- US, Russia's 'mutual benefit' -
As well as the missile strike on Sumy, both sides launched fresh drone attacks on the eve of the negotiations.
Ukrainian officials said a Russian drone attack overnight Saturday killed three civilians in Kyiv, including a five-year-old girl and her father.
AFP reporters in the capital saw emergency workers treating the wounded early Sunday in front of damaged residential buildings hit in the strike.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's national railway operator said it was countering a sophisticated cyberattack for the second day running.
Moscow headed into the Saudi talks after a rapprochement with Washington under Trump that boosted confidence Kremlin confidence.
Peskov said Sunday that the "potential for mutually beneficial cooperation in a wide variety of spheres between our countries cannot be overstated".
"We may disagree on some things but that does not mean we should deprive ourselves of mutual benefit," he added.
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