European leaders have called US President Donald Trump to discuss a proposed 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine starting on Monday. They were in Kiev at the time.
The call came after a meeting of the leaders of the so-called ‘Coalition of the Willing’, where they discussed taking peace talks forward. The leaders of France, Germany, the UK and Poland were welcomed in person by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev. Others joined the meeting remotely.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the alliance supported a ‘complete and unconditional’ ceasefire, which is essentially Trump’s proposal, and that the EU was ready to ‘impose even stronger sanctions’ if the ceasefire was violated.
The presence of British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and new German Chancellor Friedrich Messerschmitt in Kiev is a symbolic response to more than 20 leaders who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. “We will stand in Kiev in solidarity with Ukraine against Russia’s barbaric and illegal full-scale aggression,” they said in a joint statement ahead of the visit.
The leaders added, “We join the United States in calling on Russia to agree to a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire, which will pave the way for the start of just and lasting peace talks.”
Meanwhile, a 30-hour ceasefire unilaterally declared by Putin to mark Russia’s Victory Day is due to end on Saturday. The fighting has eased somewhat, but both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire. The Coalition of the Willing, on the other hand, is designed to bolster any eventual peace deal with security guarantees, including the potential deployment of troops to Ukraine.
Trump, after speaking by phone with Zelensky earlier, reiterated his call for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire. “If the ceasefire is not respected, the United States and its partners will impose further sanctions,” he wrote on social media.
During the meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was already “used to sanctions” and knew how to mitigate their impact. “There is no point in scaring us with these sanctions,” he said.
In addition, former Russian President and current Security Council Deputy Head Dmitry Medvedev told European allies to “throw away these peace plans.”
Others who joined the meeting remotely included Italian Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Meanwhile, despite Russia’s call for a temporary ceasefire, Russian attacks have been reported across Ukraine. An 85-year-old woman was killed and three others were injured in the northern Sumy region, with 19 residential buildings and 10 other buildings destroyed or damaged, Ukrainian police said. Russian attacks in Kostyantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region left one person injured and two apartment buildings on fire, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service DSNS said. And in the southern city of Kherson, a 58-year-old local resident sought medical help after being hit by an explosive-laden Russian drone, the regional administration said.