European leaders on a joint visit to Kyiv have issued an ultimatum to Vladimir Putin: sign up to an unconditional ceasefire by Monday, or face increased sanctions and weapons transfers to Ukraine.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland, together with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made a joint phone call to Donald Trump prior to making the announcement.
“All of us here, together with the US, are calling Putin out. If he’s serious about peace, then he has a chance to show it now,” said UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, at a joint press conference of the five leaders in Kyiv.
Starmer said the leaders were demanding “an unconditional ceasefire, rejecting Putin’s conditions, and [are] clear that if he turns his back on peace, we will respond, working with President Trump, with all our partners, we will ramp up sanctions, and increase our military aid for Ukraine’s defence to pressure Russia back to the table.”
Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz arrived in the Ukrainian capital on the same train on Saturday morning, while Donald Tusk travelled on a separate train. The leaders met Zelenskyy for talks in central Kyiv. It is Macron’s first visit to Kyiv since summer 2022, and the first visit for Merz as chancellor, having only taken office this week.
“All five leaders had a fruitful call with @POTUS focused on peace efforts,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote on X, adding a picture of the five men gathered around a mobile phone on speaker mode.
Sybiha added: “Ukraine and all allies are ready for a full unconditional ceasefire on land, air, and at sea for at least 30 days starting already on Monday. If Russia agrees and effective monitoring is ensured, a durable ceasefire and confidence-building measures can pave the way to peace negotiations.”
There was no immediate readout from the White House on the call, or on whether Trump had made specific commitments if Putin rejects the ceasefire.
Trump and the US administration have said a 30-day ceasefire could be the first step on the way to a sustainable peace deal. Ukraine has said it is ready to implement such a ceasefire, but Russia has so far refused, saying it would only do so if all western weapons deliveries to Ukraine were halted.
In an early sign that Russia may not be receptive to the latest ultimatum, the hawkish former president, Dmitry Medvedev, wrote on X: “Macron, Merz, Starmer, and Tusk were supposed to discuss peace in Kiev. Instead, they are blurting out threats against Russia … You think that’s smart, eh? Shove these peace plans up your pangender arses.”
Instead, Moscow unilaterally declared a three-day ceasefire beginning on 8 May, which Kyiv said was designed to avoid Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia during celebrations of 80 years of the Soviet victory in the second world war, held in Moscow on Friday.
Thousands of troops marched through Red Square for the annual Victory Day parade, with numerous world leaders in attendance, most notably China’s Xi Jinping, and the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Robert Fico and Aleksandar Vučić, the prime minister of EU member Slovakia and the president of EU hopeful Serbia, respectively, also attended the parade, drawing irritation from other European leaders.
Fighting has continued along the frontlines during the supposed ceasefire, both sides have said, but Russia has largely refrained from drone and missile attacks on Ukraine.
“Putin didn’t need conditions when he wanted a ceasefire to have a parade, and he doesn’t need them now. Ukraine has shown the willingness to engage again and again, but again and again Putin has refused,” said Starmer.
Starmer said Putin had drawn the wrong lessons from the second world war. “We understand the lessons of history, the lesson that any veteran of Normandy or north Africa or of any other campaign will tell you, but that Putin has not yet grasped. There is no glory in aggression and conquest, glory comes from fighting for your country, defending the people, and winning the peace,” he said.
Macron also referenced VE Day, and said that “the defence of the principles on which our continent and, more generally, the international order is based” was at stake in the war in Ukraine.
The four European leaders visited Kyiv’s Maidan on Saturday morning with Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena Zelenska. Thousands of flags have been erected in the central square to remember those killed in the war with Russia. The leaders paid their respects and had a moment of silence, before heading to the talks with Zelenskyy. The five then had a virtual meeting with other leaders on progress being made for a so-called “air, land, maritime and regeneration force” that is planned to be part of a peace deal.
Trump has yet to comment publicly on his conversation with the group of leaders. On Friday, he was asked by reporters in the Oval Office if he had a message for Putin. “I have a message for both parties: Get this war ended,” he said, adding: “Get this stupid war finished. That’s my message for both of them.”
The Trump administration has so far appeared to be much tougher on Kyiv than Moscow, but there are some small signals that the mood in Washington might be changing, after a positive meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy in the Vatican on the sidelines of the pope’s funeral.
Even the vice-president, JD Vance, seen as the most sceptical of voices on support for Ukraine, has criticised Moscow’s stance in recent days. “Right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they’re asking for too much,” he said this week.
The US embassy in Kyiv put out a public warning late on Friday night that it had received intelligence of a “potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days”. It did not give further details, but it later emerged that Russia will close its airspace over the Kapustin Yar missile testing range on Monday and Tuesday, which could indicate the potential launch of ballistic missiles.
