European leaders in Ukraine’s Kyiv press Russia for 30-day ceasefire

The leaders of France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland have held talks in Ukraine with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and have put pressure on Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire as a step to end the three-year conflict, threatening Moscow with massive sanctions if it refuses.

French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived together by train from neighbouring Poland on Saturday. Later, they were joined by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.The demand was announced by the visiting leaders in a joint news conference with Zelenskyy. A “coalition of the willing”, a group of over 30 countries, have pledged to buttress Ukraine to fend off Russian aggression and occupation.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said later on Saturday that his country and its allies are ready for a “full, unconditional ceasefire” with Russia for at least 30 days starting on Monday.

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 Russian President Vladimir Putin did not comply.The Kremlin then accused those European countries of making confrontational statements in Kyiv, the Russian Interfax news agency reported. “We hear many contradictory statements from Europe. They are generally confrontational in nature rather than aimed at trying to revive our relations. Nothing more,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying.

United States President Donald Trump has proposed a 30-day unconditional ceasefire as a step to end the conflict. But Putin has resisted so far.

Symbolic, yet practical
It is the first time the leaders of the four European nations have made a joint visit to Ukraine.

“There is a lot of work to do, a lot of topics to discuss. We must end this war with a just peace. We must force Moscow to agree to a ceasefire,” said Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, posting photographs welcoming the leaders off the train.

More than three years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the hugely symbolic show of European unity comes a day after Putin struck a defiant tone at a Moscow parade marking 80 years since victory in World War II.