Ukraine allies increase pressure on Russia-Putin should negotiate

The supporters of Ukraine agreed at a video conference led by the British Prime Minister Keir Strandmer to prepare more specifically for securing a possible ceasefire with Russia. “Sooner or later” Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin will have to come to the negotiating table, said Straiter on Saturday. In order to be prepared for a ceasefire, the military chiefs of his so -called “coalition of the willing” are now to advise on details of a possible peacekeeper in London on Thursday.

“We have agreed to accelerate our practical work” and “to enter an operational phase”, said Strander after the consultations with Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), France President Emmanuel Macron and about 20 other heads of state and government as well as the top of NATO and EU. The coalition of the willing is ready to “contribute to the security of Ukraine on land, to water and in the air” and will now work out “practical plans” for the protection of Ukraine.

The supporters of the Ukraine agreed at the conference “that the ball is now in Russia’s field,” said Strandmer, who had organized a first Ukraine conference in London in early March. “If Putin really wants to peace, it is very simple: he has to adjust his barbaric attacks on Ukraine and accept a ceasefire,” the premier demanded.

Scholz welcomed “the willingness of the Ukrainian president to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire”, as government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit announced. It is now up to Russia to “end its daily attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure and finally take the path to a permanent and just peace”.

According to the conference, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also stated that Russia must now prove “that it is ready to support a ceasefire that leads to a fair and permanent peace”. Macron, together with the USA, continued to “clearly” put pressure on Russia in order to achieve a ceasefire. However, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni again excluded participation in a possible peace force.

Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj said that Russia delayed the beginning of negotiations in order to first reach a “stronger position” on the battlefield. Selenskyj, on the other hand, already named the Ukrainian negotiating delegation for possible discussions with Russia. According to the decree, her Presidential Officer Andrij Jermak, Foreign Minister Andrij Sybiha, Minister of Defense Rustem Umerow and the Vice-President of the President’s Office, Pawlo Palisa, are said to belong.

There had been movement in the efforts to take a ceasefire after Ukraine had agreed to a US proposal for a 30-day break after discussions with the USA in Saudi Arabia. Putin had fundamentally approved a ceasefire in Ukraine on Thursday, but at the same time put conditions. First of all, “serious questions” would have to be clarified for implementation, said Putin. He wanted to clarify these questions in a conversation with US President Donald Trump.

On the night of Saturday, Russia and Ukraine again exceeded each other with drone attacks. Ukraine, according to its own statements, fended off 130 Russian drones, Russia almost as many.

Selenskyj contested Ukrainian soldiers in the Russian border region of Kursk on Saturday. “Our soldiers continue to hold back Russian and North Korean units in the Kursk region,” he said. Trump had previously claimed that thousands of Ukrainians were “completely encircled by the Russian army in Kursk”. Putin then asked the Ukrainians to surrender. On Saturday, Russia announced the reconquest of two other villages in Kursk.