Major European powers threw their weight behind an unconditional 30-day Ukraine ceasefire yesterday, with the backing of US President Donald Trump, and threatened President Vladimir Putin with “massive” new sanctions if he did not accept within days.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Ukraine set the start of the ceasefire for May 12 at a meeting in Kyiv, during which they held a phone call with Trump.
“So all of us here together with the US are calling Putin out. If he is serious about peace, then he has a chance to show it,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told a press conference.
“No more ifs and buts, no more conditions and delays.”
Soon after the European leaders’ announcement, the Kremlin appeared to pour scorn on it.
“We hear many contradictory statements from Europe. They are generally confrontational in nature rather than aimed at trying to revive our relations. Nothing more,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Interfax.
Peskov was later quoted by the state TASS news agency as saying that Russia would consider the ceasefire proposal, while Moscow has its own position.
Western sanctions against Russia have been toughened repeatedly since its full-scale invasion in 2022, without ending the war. But following through on the threat would be a sign of growing Western unity after months of unpredictability in US policy since Trump’s return to the White House in January.
After engaging directly with Russian officials, clashing publicly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and briefly cutting vital military aid to Kyiv, Washington has patched up ties with Ukraine and signed an agreement giving the US preferential access to new Ukrainian minerals deals.
Trump, who did not immediately comment publicly on the European leaders’ remarks, has also signalled frustration with what Washington views as Putin’s foot-dragging over a ceasefire.
“In the event that the ceasefire is violated, massive sanctions will be prepared, in co-ordination between the Europeans and the US,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.
By imposing new sanctions, the White House would be aligning itself more closely with Western Europe, which has been rattled by a trade war in which Trump has imposed tariffs on them and other countries and has suggested he might not come to the defence of Nato allies that underspend on their defence.
Zelenskiy said he and the visiting leaders had agreed the unconditional ceasefire must start tomorrow 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 later issued a joint statement summing up the contents of the proposed 30-day ceasefire and saying its main purpose was “to make room for diplomacy”.
They welcomed support for the proposal from both Europe and the US and said that if Russia sought to apply conditions, “this can only be considered as an effort to prolong the war and undermine diplomacy”.
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