Russian President Vladimir Putin’s response to a US-proposed ceasefire in Ukraine is “not good enough,” Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, after hosting a virtual summit aimed at drumming up support for Kyiv and piling pressure on Russia, reports CNN.
After hosting a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” – a group of Western nations that have pledged to help defend Ukraine against Russia – Starmer said leaders had agreed that “the ‘yes but’ from Russia is not good enough” and that Russia would have to come to the negotiating table sooner or later.
“We agreed collective pressure will be put on Russia from all of us who were in the meeting this morning,” he added.
Saturday’s meeting involved some 25 countries, including European nations, the EU Commission, NATO, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
After Kyiv this week accepted the terms of a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine – endorsed by US President Donald Trump – Moscow’s response was ambiguous, with Putin saying that “we agree with the proposal” but also that the deal “wasn’t complete.”
While he offered few new details, Starmer announced that the militaries of Ukraine’s allies will meet in the United Kingdom on Thursday, to “put strong and robust plans in place” to keep the peace in the event a ceasefire is struck in Ukraine.
“We will now move into an operational phase,” Starmer said. “Our militaries will meet on Thursday this week here in the United Kingdom to put strong and robust plans in place to swing behind a peace deal and guarantee Ukraine’s future security.”
During Saturday’s talks, Starmer said that Ukraine’s allies agreed to “keep the military aid flowing to Ukraine, and keep tightening restrictions on Russia’s economy, to weaken Putin’s war machine and bring him to the table.”
Starmer said that Putin was delaying the US-backed ceasefire proposal that Ukraine agreed to this week, and that Ukraine “is the party of peace.”
US President Donald Trump “has offered Putin the way forward to a lasting peace – now we must make this a reality,” Starmer said.
Responding to a question from a journalist about US support, Starmer stressed that the “position on the US hasn’t changed,” and that achieving peace in Ukraine “needs to be done in conjunction with the United States.”
It comes after Starmer said in opening remarks to the “coalition of the willing” that “if Putin is serious about peace, it’s very simple: He has to stop his barbaric attacks on Ukraine and agree to a ceasefire.” He continued, “The world is watching. My feeling is that sooner or later he’s going to have to come to the table and engage in serious discussion.”
The “coalition of the willing,” a group of who have pledged to help defend Ukraine from Russian aggression in the face of dwindling and uncertain support from Washington, last met in London two weeks ago before reconvening Saturday for the virtual meeting.
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