London: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the ball was in the Russian court, with President Vladimir Putin supporting a coalition willing to protect any ultimate accelerated firepower in Ukraine at a virtual summit on Saturday.

The British Prime Minister told about 26 leaders that they have joined the group calling hosted by Downing Street and that they should focus on how to strengthen Ukraine, protect any ceasefire and maintain pressure on Moscow.

He said that despite Ukraine agreeing to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, Ukraine showed it was a “peace party” and Putin was the one trying to delay it. ”

He added: “If Putin is serious about peace, I think it’s simple, he must stop the brutal attack on Ukraine and agree to a ceasefire and the whole world is watching.”

Stamer said that as the coalition enters the “phase of action”, the military chiefs will now meet again in the UK.

He added: “The group we met this morning was bigger and had stronger collective determination than our larger team two weeks ago, and a new commitment was made this morning.”

EU Chief European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in news about X that Russia must show that “it is willing to support a ceasefire that leads to a just and lasting peace”.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof also said on X: “Now, it is important to continue to put pressure on Russia to participate in the negotiation table.”

The overnight battle continued in the relentless Three Years’ War, and Russia said it occupied two more villages in its Kursk border area, where it launched an offensive to regain the territory.

Battles in the Kursk region

With the move as a ceasefire, Moscow this week pushed back most of the land that Ukraine originally captured in western Kursk.

But Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, who joined the talks, denied the “siege” of troops in the Kursk region on Saturday.

“Our forces continue to block Russian and North Korean groups in the Kursk region,” he said on social media.

The Russian Defense Ministry said troops control the villages of Zolsenka and Rubenchina – the main town of Moscow recovered this week to the north and west of the town of Suzha.

Kiev also said its air force had reduced 130 Iran-made Russians overnight and sold in 14 regions of the country.

Putin called on the embattled Ukrainian army to “surrender” in Kursk, while his American counterpart, Donald Trump, urged the Kremlin to save lives.

“The Kremlin’s complete disregard for President Trump’s ceasefire proposal can only prove that Putin is not serious about peace,” Starmer said before the call.

Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have been working to form a so-called “willing alliance” since Trump negotiated directly with Moscow last month.

The group is necessary, they said, with U.S. support, to provide security assurances to Ukraine by preventing Putin from violating any ceasefire.

Starmer and Macron said they were willing to put British and French troops on the ground in Ukraine, but it was unclear whether other countries were keen on doing so.

“Stop Violence”

Macron also called on Russia to accept the proposal for a ceasefire late Friday and stopped issuing a statement aimed at “delaying the process.”

The French president also demanded that Moscow stop its “violence” in Ukraine.

Germany also criticized Putin’s response to the Ukrainian ceasefire declared by the U.S. on Friday as “a strategy of delay at best.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday he was “cautiously optimistic” about the truce, but admitted that “a lot of work remains to be done.”

Starmer said he welcomes any proposals for support to the alliance, which increases the prospect that some countries can contribute to logistics or surveillance.

However, after she joined the call, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated that Italy “has no military force to be envisioned to participate in the scene.”

British federal partners Canada, Australia and New Zealand have participated in the early talks and have dialed into the summit.

NATO chief Mark Rutte and EU CEOs Von der Leyen and Antonio Costa also participated with leaders from Germany, Spain, Portugal, Latvia, Romania, Turkey and the Czech Republic.