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Ukraine and allies urge Putin to commit to a 30-day ceasefire or face new sanctions – National

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22 hours ago

May 10, 2025

Ukraine and allies urge Putin to commit to a 30-day ceasefire or face new sanctions - National

Leaders from four major European countries threatened to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin if he does not accept an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine that they offered on Saturday in a strong show of unity with Kyiv.

The leaders of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland said their proposal for a ceasefire to start on Monday was supported by U.S. President Donald Trump, whom they had briefed over the phone earlier in the day.

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Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Saturday told CNN that Moscow will need to consider the proposal. Earlier that day, Peskov reiterated Russia’s claim that it was ready for peace talks with Ukraine “without preconditions”, and accused Kyiv of blocking those.

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Russia’s own unilateral three-day ceasefire, declared for the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany expires Saturday, and Ukraine says Russian forces have repeatedly violated it. In March, the United States proposed an immediate, limited 30-day truce, which Ukraine accepted, but the Kremlin has held out for terms more to its liking.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking to reporters alongside the European leaders in Kyiv, called their meeting “a very important signal.”

In a joint statement, as published on Zelenskyy’s official website, the five leaders called for a ceasefire “lasting at least 30 days” from Monday, to make room for a diplomatic push to end the war.

“An unconditional ceasefire by definition cannot be subject to any conditions. If Russia calls for such conditions, this can only be considered as an effort to prolong the war and undermine diplomacy,” the statement read.

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French President Emmanuel Macron said that the U.S. would take the lead in monitoring the proposed cease-fire, with support from European countries, and threatened “massive sanctions … prepared and coordinated, between Europeans and Americans,” should Russia violate the truce.

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Macron traveled to Kyiv with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

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“This is Europe stepping up, showing our solidarity with Ukraine,” Starmer said.

Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, said Saturday that a “comprehensive” 30-day ceasefire, covering attacks from the air, land, sea, and infrastructure, “will start the process for ending the largest and longest war in Europe since World War II.”

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday held a series of bilateral talks with foreign officials who had attended Moscow’s own celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, in an apparent attempt to underscore the West’s failure to isolate it on the global stage. Putin’s interlocutors included To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and the leaders of Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, and the Palestinian Authority.

Europe threatens more sanctions if Russia ignores ceasefire offer

Progress on ending the three-year war has seemed elusive in the months since Trump returned to the White House, and his previous claims of imminent breakthroughs have failed to come to fruition. Trump has previously pushed Ukraine to cede territory to Russia to end the war, threatening to walk away if a deal becomes too difficult.

Since the start of U.S.-mediated talks, Russia has kept up attacks along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, including deadly strikes on residential areas with no obvious military targets.

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The ceasefire would include a halt to fighting on land, sea, and in the air. The European leaders threatened to ratchet up sanctions, including on Russia’s energy and banking sectors, if Putin did not comply.

The priority was to make it too costly for Russia to keep fighting in Ukraine, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

When asked how the monitoring mechanism would work, Sybiha told The Associated Press the details were still being discussed.

Addressing skepticism over whether fresh sanctions against Moscow, which has so far managed to keep fighting in the war, Merz said “almost all member states of the European Union and a large coalition of the willing around the world are determined to enforce these sanctions even if our initiative of the weekend should fail.”

The leaders also discussed security guarantees for Ukraine.

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Building up Kyiv’s military capabilities will be a key deterrent against Russia and require supplying Ukraine with robust quantities of arms to deter future attacks and investing in its defense sector. A force comprised of foreign troops could also be deployed as an added “reassurance” measure, Macron said.

He said details about potential European deployments to Ukraine were still being fine-tuned. No mention was made of NATO membership, still Kyiv’s top choice for a security guarantee.