Those joining Saturday’s call included the leaders of France, Finland, Poland, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council chief Antonio Costa. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte spoke on the call.
Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has positioned herself as a European bridge to U.S. President Donald Trump, also joined the call despite earlier reports that she would not take part. Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also participated.
‘Not good enough’
The U.K. prime minister said Ukraine was “the party of peace” after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — who joined Saturday’s call — “committed to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.” By contrast, “Putin is the one trying to delay” a ceasefire, Starmer said.
In a televised address Thursday, Russia’s president laid out a raft of caveats for accepting the proposal put forward by the U.S. and Ukraine to end the Kremlin’s war. Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said Washington has “some cautious optimism” that a ceasefire deal could succeed.
“The ‘yes, but’ from Russia is not good enough,” said Starmer. He said his message to Putin was “that this is the moment the guns fall silent, that the barbaric attacks on Ukraine once and for all stop, and agree to a ceasefire now.”
The leaders also “discussed further sanctions that have got nothing to do with [frozen Russian] assets, which we will take forward as a result of this morning’s discussion,” Starmer said.
