London: Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Russian President Vladimir Putin will eventually have to negotiate as he urges world leaders to strengthen support for Ukraine and maintain pressure on Moscow at the virtual summit.
The British leader told about 26 leaders in a group call that he presided over them and they should focus on strengthening Ukraine, protecting any ceasefire and maintaining pressure on Moscow.
He said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accepted a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, “against Ukraine is a peace party.”
“But Putin is trying to delay – exploring a hard study that must be done before the ceasefire,” he added.
He insisted: “Sooner or later, Putin will have to come to the table.”
He added that military leaders will meet again in the UK on Thursday as the alliance enters operational stage.
“The group we met this morning was bigger than we were two weeks ago, with stronger collective determination and a new commitment was made this morning,” he said.
Diplomatic pressure on Russia
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia aims to get a “stronger position” before any ceasefire is ahead of any ceasefire, more than three years since invading his country.
“They want to improve the situation on the battlefield,” Zelensky told reporters in Kiev.
The Trump team’s ceasefire proposal is Russia’s dominance in several areas in the frontier of Ukraine.
Rather than committing to the immediate ceasefire proposed by the United States, the Russian leader sets conditions.
But Zelensky insists Putin “lied on how the ceasefire became too complicated”.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday called on joint pressure from the United States and Europe against Russia to accept the proposed ceasefire.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a message on X that Russia must show that “it is willing to support a ceasefire that leads to a just and lasting peace.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday he was “cautiously optimistic” about the truce, but more work is needed.
The overnight battle continued, with Russia claiming that it occupied two more villages in its Kursk border area, where it launched an offensive to restore the occupied territory.
Moscow has pushed for the recapture of much of the land Ukraine originally captured in West Cusk this week.
The Russian Defense Ministry said troops have taken control of the villages of Zaoleshenka and Rubanshchina – the main towns that Moscow has recovered this week to the north and west of Sudzha towns.
“Stop Violence”
Kiev said its air force has lowered 130 Iran-made shahed drones overnight, exceeding 14 regions of the country.
Starmer and Macron have been working to form what is called a “voluntary alliance” since Trump negotiated directly with Moscow last month.
They believe that the group is necessary – and our support, which can 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, although it was unclear whether other countries were ready to do so.
Russia once again rejected the idea of foreign forces as peacekeepers in Ukraine earlier this week.
But Macron said on Saturday: “If Ukraine requires the Allies to be on its territory, it will not be accepted by Russia.”
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, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reiterated after calling for Italy to “no military force envisioned to participate in the scene.”
U.S. President Donald Trump appointed Keith Kellogg as Ukraine’s special envoy on Saturday.
Kellogg was Trump’s first national security adviser and had been previously described as a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
But he was excluded from recent negotiations in Saudi Arabia about ending the war, with NBC news in the U.S. citing a senior Russian official as saying Putin thought he was too pro-Ukrainian.
