Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin's summit on Ukraine could be a "first step towards serious negotiations" for peace, British Defence Secretary John Healey has suggested.
Healey said the end to any conflict "must come from diplomacy," before Friday's meeting between the two leaders in Alaska.
European leaders are braced for the meeting and have expressed hope about the prospect of a potential ceasefire after a joint call with US president Trump earlier this week.
Healey was asked what lessons from VJ Day – being marked on Friday – could be applied in the present day as Trump is set to meet the Russian leader.
He told BBC Breakfast: "The first lesson is that military and fighting solves nothing in the end, and that the end to war must come through talking, must come from diplomacy.
"So today in Alaska is what I hope, we all hope to see, a first step towards serious negotiations."
On Thursday, Trump suggested European leaders could be invited to a second meeting if Friday's summit is successful.
Speaking at the White House, he said: "We have a meeting with President Putin tomorrow, I think it's going to be a good meeting.
"But the more important meeting will be the second meeting that we're having. We're going to have a meeting with President Putin, [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelensky, myself, and maybe we'll bring some of the European leaders along. Maybe not."
Healey dismissed suggestions the UK's approach to the war is to "watch and wait."
He told the BBC: "The UK's role is to stand with Ukraine on the battlefield and in the negotiations, and prepare, as we have been, leading 30 other nations with military planning for a ceasefire and a secure peace through what we call the coalition of the willing.
"Our role is to lead the charge, as we have been, on more intensive diplomacy, to lead the charge on military aid to Ukraine so that we don't jeopardise the peace by forgetting about the current war, and being ready also to step-up economic pressure on Putin if he's not willing to take the talks seriously."
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with Ukrainian leader Zelensky on Thursday, and the pair expressed cautious optimism about the prospect of a truce "as long as Putin takes action to prove he is serious" about ending the war, a statement from Starmer's office said.
Concerns linger over the prospect of Kyiv being excluded from negotiations over its own future, and pressured to cede territory, after the US leader suggested any agreement may need to involve "swapping of land."
Ukraine has already rejected any proposal that would compromise its borders.
