Keir Starmer heads to Washington with UK defense spending pledge to help sway Trump over Ukraine Winnipeg Free Press [Video]

LONDON (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer was flying to Washington on Wednesday after announcing a big increase in the British defense budget, an investment that he hopes will help persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to maintain support for Ukraine as Washington pushes to end the war.

Though Starmer is touting the trans-Atlantic “special relationship” that has endured since World War II, he faces an uncertain reception. Trump has upended decades of U.S. foreign policy during his first weeks in office.

Ukraine and its European allies are scrambling to respond after the Trump administration engaged directly with Moscow on ending the war in Ukraine. Starmer’s visit to the White House on Thursday is part of European efforts — following a trip to Washington by French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week — to ensure Kyiv gets a voice in negotiations, and that the U.S. still backs Europe in dealing …