British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in Armenia’s capital Yerevan, warned of growing “tensions” between US President Donald Trump and Europe at a meeting of leaders from across the continent, which he used to announce the UK’s bid to join the European Union’s loan for Ukraine’s reconstruction, the British outlet The Standard writes.

Trump lashed out at some NATO countries for, in his view, not backing Washington over Iran, and only recently announced plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany.

“The Prime Minister warned of strained relations at the European Political Community summit in Armenia, dominated by conflicts in Ukraine and Iran, amid fears over the US President’s waning interest in the former and attacks on traditional allies over their stance on the latter,” the publication emphasizes.

Speaking at a plenary session, Starmer said: “We cannot deny that some of the alliances we have become used to relying on are not where we would want them to be.

There is more tension in alliances than there should be, and therefore it is very important that we face this together as a group of countries.”

The British Prime Minister also said that the damage inflicted on economies around the world by the Middle East crisis “will be felt by our voters in all our countries.”

His trip to Yerevan comes as Labour is expected to face losses in local elections taking place this week. Sir Keir announced that Britain would begin talks on providing Kyiv with a European Union loan worth €90 billion (£78 billion). In an account of the Ukraine meeting, which he co-chaired with France on the sidelines of the summit, Downing Street said: “Leaders discussed the European Union’s £78 billion loan to Ukraine, and the Prime Minister underlined that UK participation would open up opportunities for both Ukraine and the European Union.”

Other participants included the leaders of Ukraine, France, Italy, Poland, Norway, Finland, NATO, the European Commission and the European Council, as well as Canada, the first non-European country to take part in the European Political Community (EPC).

The loan initiative, recently approved by the EU after Viktor Orban’s election defeat in Hungary ended a prolonged deadlock, could create opportunities for British defence firms to compete for contracts in exchange for a UK financial contribution reportedly amounting to as much as £400 million.

Officials said the payments would be determined by the value of the contracts and would come from the UK’s allocated £3 billion for Ukraine.

Speaking to reporters on arrival at the meeting in Yerevan, Sir Keir said that UK participation in the initiative would be “really useful” for Ukraine’s military capability, job creation in Britain and UK-EU relations. The UK and the EU, which will hold another joint summit this summer, will discuss the terms of access to the loan in the coming weeks, the British government said.

“They discussed the European support already provided to the region to strengthen security and welcomed the close coordination among European allies,” Downing Street said.

Several European countries expressed readiness to support efforts to ensure freedom of navigation through the strait after the war ends.

On Sunday, Trump announced that the US would begin dispatching ships stranded on the vital oil and gas shipping route because of the war with Tehran. Since then, Iran has reportedly said that a US destroyer attempting to pass through the strait was struck by missiles, but the US military denied the claim.