Starmer says Europe and US are ‘calling Putin out’ to agree a 30-day Ukraine ceasefire – observe dwell

Frank Gardner
Safety correspondent in Kyiv

Picture supply, Reuters

Signal as much as an unconditional 30-day ceasefire or face ‘new and big’ sanctions in your banking and power sectors, in addition to elevated army help to Ukraine.

That’s the message delivered to Russia as we speak by leaders of the UK, France, Germany and Poland as they met Ukraine’s President Zelensky, in a gesture of European unity and solidarity.

After a digital assembly of the so-called ‘coalition of the keen’ – these nations and organisations ready to make sure Ukraine’s post-war safety – the leaders held a cellphone name with President Trump.

They then held a press convention, the place they demand a complete 30-day ceasefire begins on Monday.

“That is Europe stepping up,” Keir Starmer mentioned. “All of us are calling Putin out. If he’s critical about peace then he has an opportunity to point out it now.”

Russia has thus far insisted that – earlier than contemplating the US-proposed 30-day ceasefire – the West should first halt its army help to Ukraine, one thing prone to be an unacceptable precondition.

The important thing query now could be what President Trump does subsequent.

Is he actually operating out of endurance with Putin’s intransigence and can he impose threatened sanctions? Or will he throw the Russian President a lifeline and minimize a deal, over the heads of Ukraine and its associates in Europe?