Kyiv-The major European powers launched their weight behind an unconditional Ukraine-fire ceasefire on Saturday, with the support of President Donald Trump, and threatened President Vladimir Putin with new “massive” sanctions if he did not accept in a few days.
The leaders of Great Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Ukraine put the start of the ceasefire for May 12 during a meeting in kyiv, during which they kept a telephone call with Trump.
“So, we all here with the United States call Putin. If he is serious about peace, then he has a chance to show it,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at a press conference.
“More if and but, more conditions and delays.”
Shortly after the announcement of European leaders, the Kremlin seemed to pay contempt.
“We hear many contradictory statements in Europe. They are generally conflicting rather than aiming at trying to relaunch our relations. Nothing more,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, said by the Russian news agency Interfax.
Peskov was then quoted by the TASS state news agency saying that Russia would consider the cease-fire proposal, while Moscow has its own position.
Western sanctions against Russia have been harden several times since its large -scale invasion in 2022, without ending the war. But following the threat would be a sign of growth in Western unity after months of unpredictability in American politics since Trump’s return to the White House in January.
After having engaged directly with Russian officials, publicly faced the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and briefly reduced vital military aid to kyiv, Washington has corrected links with Ukraine and signed an agreement giving American preferential access to new Ukrainian mineral agreements.
Trump, who did not immediately comment on the comments of European leaders, also pointed out the frustration of what Washington considers Putin to manage on a cease-fire.
“In the event that the ceasefire is violated, massive sanctions are prepared, in coordination between Europeans and the United States,” said French president Emmanuel Macron.
By imposing new sanctions, the White House would line up more closely with Western Europe, which was shaken by a trade war in which Trump imposed prices and other countries for them and suggested that he may not come to the defense of the NATO allies who underline their defense.
Zelenskyy said that he and the guest chiefs had agreed that the unconditional ceasefire should start on Monday and cover air, sea and land. If Russia refused, it would face new sanctions, including the strengthening of punitive measures targeting its energy and banking sectors, he said.
The leaders subsequently published a joint declaration summarizing the content of the ceasefire offered by 30 days and claiming that its main objective was “to make room for diplomacy”.
They welcomed support for the proposal of Europe and the United States and said that if Russia sought to apply conditions, “this can only be considered an effort to prolong war and undermine diplomacy”.
Peskov said on Friday that Russia had argued the implementation of a 30-day ceasefire, but only in consideration of “nuances”.
In remarks to the American broadcaster ABC Broadcast earlier on Saturday, Peskov had suggested that the Western military assistance for Ukraine was to stop for a temporary cease-fire to take effect. “Otherwise, it will be an advantage for Ukraine,” he said.
Trump phone call
Macron said that if the ceasefire continued, it would be watched mainly by the United States and European countries would contribute.
Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who is now a senior security official, has ridiculed the idea of giving Russia an option between being sanctioned or giving Ukrainian forces the opportunity to rebuild.
European leaders said that the terms of a peace agreement would be negotiated during the 30 -day break in the fighting.
“We have no illusions that the ceasefire will be raped,” said Zelenskyy.
On the eve of the summit, the kyiv US Embassy warned against a potentially significant “air attack in the coming days.
When European leaders arrived in kyiv by train on Saturday, a screen on the platform announced the arrival of the “Bravery Express”. Zelenskyy accompanied them as they paid tribute to a kyiv memorial in honor of the Ukrainian soldiers killed during the war.
The visit fell on the last day of a ceasefire from May 8 to 10 declared by Putin that Ukraine has not accepted, denouncing it as a sham. The two parties accused each other of raping it.
Reuters journalists in a field hospital near the front line in the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia region saw soldiers introduced with battle injuries suffered since the start of the Russian ceasefire.
“There was no cease-fire, the bombing continued as before, the drones fly as before, the same with the explosives that have been abandoned. Nothing has changed at all,” said a wounded soldier who gave his name Stanislav.
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