Britain and France should immediately deploy troops to Ukraine, a former head of Nato has said.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen accused Europe’s two nuclear powers of presiding over a “coalition of the waiting” while the Kremlin dragged out peace talks.

“For some months, France and the UK have tried to establish a coalition of the willing, but it’s more now a coalition of the waiting,” the 73-year-old former Danish prime minister told The Telegraph from his office in Brussels.

“We should transform that into a ‘coalition of the doing’ by deploying troops… you could not wait for a peace deal but actually push for peace by telling Putin ‘you cannot deter us, and we will help the Ukrainians defend against attacks against their critical infrastructure’.”

Mr Rasmussen’s call for action came during US-led negotiations in Abu Dhabi between Ukraine and Russia, which focused on security guarantees and preventing a future war.

European officials were kept out of the room after Moscow objected to their involvement in the two-day talks, which Ukraine described on Wednesday as “one of the toughest” negotiations yet.

Vladimir Medinsky, the head of the Russian delegation, said after the talks: “We have no idea what the Europeans are doing here, this is a trilateral meeting. They can hang out in the lobby if they want.”

Mr Rasmussen, who was Nato’s secretary-general between 2009 and 2014, believes that Europe must show Vladimir Putin that it is serious in its support for Ukraine, even as it continues to be denied a seat at the table.

He has devised a five-point strategy to stop the war and prevent Europe from “sleepwalking into a permanent war on the Continent”.

He called on Germany, Spain and Greece to empty their stockpiles of Patriot interceptors to help Kyiv protect itself against Russian ballistic missile attacks, and suggested Nato extends its integrated air and missile defence systems over western Ukraine to bolster defences.

Read More: Britain must deploy troops to Ukraine now, says ex-NATO boss