British prime minister Keir Starmer told a virtual meeting of about 25 world leaders on Saturday that they had to be prepared to defend any Ukraine peace deal themselves, urging them to keep up pressure on Russia.
“If [Russian president Vladimir] Putin is serious about peace, it’s very simple, he has to stop his barbaric attacks on Ukraine and agree to a ceasefire,” Mr Starmer told the video call of leaders from nations, including from Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
“My feeling is that sooner or later [Putin’s] going to have to come to the table and engage in serious discussion, but – and this is a big but for us this morning in our meeting – we can’t sit back and simply wait for that to happen," Mr Starmer said.
“We have to keep pushing ahead, pushing forward, and preparing for peace, and a peace that will be secure and that will last. I think that means strengthening Ukraine so they can defend themselves, and strengthening, obviously, in terms of military capability, in terms of funding, in terms of the provision of further support from all of us to Ukraine.”
Mr Starmer hosted talks on a peacekeeping force for Ukraine on Saturday after warning Mr Putin not to play games with a proposed ceasefire.
After speaking to French president Emmanuel Macron and Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Store on Friday afternoon, Mr Starmer warned: “We can’t allow president Putin to play games with president Trump’s deal.
“The Kremlin’s complete disregard for president Trump’s ceasefire proposal only serves to demonstrate that Putin is not serious about peace.”
Ukrainian troops are still fending off Russian and North Korean forces in Russia’s Kursk region but face a potential new attack on Ukraine’s northeast Sumy region, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday.
Military analysts say Russia is close to ejecting Ukrainian forces from their months-old foothold in the western Russian region, prompting US president Donald Trump to warn that thousands were “completely surrounded”.
In a statement on social media after being briefed by his top general, Mr Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s troops were not encircled in Kursk but that Moscow was accumulating forces nearby for a separate strike.
“This indicates an intention to attack our Sumy region,” he said. “We are aware of this, and will counter it.
“I would like all [our] partners to understand exactly what Putin is planning, what he is preparing for and what he will be ignoring.”
Russia is continuing to resist proposals for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire put forward by Ukraine and the US earlier in the week.
While Mr Putin has described the principle of a ceasefire as “correct”, he has insisted it must come with a promise from Ukraine to abandon attempts to join Nato and give up control of regions seized by Russia.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump claimed he was “getting pretty good vibes” from Russia on the prospect of a ceasefire.
Mr Trump told the Full Measure television programme: “I think (Putin’s) going to agree. I really do. I think I know him pretty well and I think he’s going to agree.”
In remarks on Friday, he also said he had asked Moscow not to kill Ukrainian soldiers that both he and Mr Putin have claimed are “surrounded” in Russia’s Kursk region.
A UN mandate appears unlikely to be forthcoming as Russia could veto any proposal as a permanent member of the Security Council.
The virtual gathering follows a week in which a diplomatic blitz saw Ukraine agree to the US’s peace plan, and US officials flew to Moscow in an effort to persuade the Kremlin to lay down arms.
G7 allies are united in calling for a ceasefire with “no conditions” to halt the fighting in Ukraine, British foreign secretary David Lammy has said, in a bid to pile pressure on the Putin regime.
However, while a joint statement by G7 foreign ministers on Friday “reaffirmed” support for Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, and emphasised the need for security guarantees, it stopped short of condemning Russia’s invasion or attributing acts of “aggression” to Moscow. – Agencies
