The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, has told allies to “keep the pressure” to the Russian president Vladimir Putin to support the fire in Ukraine, welcoming Ukraine as the “Peace Party.”
In his opening comments on Saturday, Starmer said Putin “sooner or later” will have to “come to the table.”
Unlike the first summit on March 2, the meeting of what Starmer has called the “coalition of the provisions” is being carried out virtually. The call is expected to deepen how countries can help Ukraine military and financially, as well as to measure support for any possible future peace maintenance mission in case Putin supports a cessation of hostilities.
“My feeling is that sooner or later he will have to come to the table and participate in a serious discussion, but this is a great but for us this morning at our meeting, we cannot sit and simply wait for that to happen,” Starmer told the leaders while sitting in front of an screen in an office in 10, Downing Street.
“I think that means strengthening Ukraine so that they can defend and strengthen, obviously, in terms of military capacity, in terms of financing, in terms of the provision of greater support from all of us to Ukraine.”
It is expected that around 25 countries participate in the call, including European partners such as France and Italy and Ukraine. The leaders of Australia, Canada and New Zealand, as well as the NATO officials and the European Union executive, will also participate. The United States is not represented at the meeting.
Saturday’s meeting is held following an US proposal. For a high 30 -day fire in Ukraine, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has supported. Putin has indicated that he supports a truce in principle, but has established a series of details that must be clarified before accepting a high fire.
“President Zelensky, who is with us this morning, has demonstrated once again that Ukraine is the Peace Party, because he agreed and has committed to a high unconditional fire of 30 days,” said Starmer. “Now what we see, and this is a centerpiece for our discussions today, is that Putin is the one who tries to delay.”
The United States has changed its focus on war since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. The change of approach in relation to the one taken by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, became particularly notable after Trump faced Zelenskyy on February 28 at the Oval office.
Trump expressed optimism on Friday that Putin, who met with the American envoy Steve Witkoff earlier for the week, will support the fire.
“I am coming from the point of view on a high fire and, ultimately, a treatment some quite good vibrations that come out of Russia,” he said.
Starmer has taken the lead, together with French president Emmanuel Macron, to gather the “Willing Coalition”, partly to persuade Trump to maintain support for kyiv. A result has already been a growing acceptance of European countries in particular that need to do more to guarantee their own security, even by increasing their defense expenditure.
Elysee’s images showed Macron and his assistants listening to Starmer’s opening statement in a room of the French presidential palace.
Ukraine, under severe military pressure in parts of the first line three years after the large -scale invasion of Russia, has already supported the proposal of truce. The Russian Army has won the impulse of the battlefield, and analysts say that Putin will probably be reluctant to hurry at a stop the fire while feeling that he has an advantage.
Starmer said that if Putin “seriously in La Paz”, he has to “stop his barbaric attacks” in Ukraine and accept a high fire.
“The world is looking,” he said.
