US president’s comments come hours after European leaders rallied around Volodymyr Zelenskyy, vowing support for Ukraine
Keir Starmer says Europe ‘at crossroads in history’ and must support Ukraine
Jean-Noël Barrot has suggested that a month’s truce in Ukraine would show if Russian president Vladimir Putin was acting in good faith.
Speaking on RTL Radio, France’s foreign minister picked up an earlier suggestion by French president Emmanuel Macron that there could be a month’s truce covering air, sea and attacks on critical infrastructure.
Zelenskyy, sought to move the conversation forward from his difficult meeting with Trump on Friday saying it was “best left to history”, as he signalled Ukraine’s readiness to sign the minerals deal and hoped for “constructive” talks with the US administration on the next steps
Speaking to reporters after frantic 72 hours, Zelenskyy drew his red lines by saying he would not accept giving any occupied territory away to Russia and insisted on remembering that Russia was the aggressor in the conflict
The Ukrainian leader said the country needed strong security guarantees or otherwise would face the risk of Russia seeking to restart hostilities with false claims about Ukrainian violations, as it did in the past
Zelenskyy said he hoped that a UK-French initiative for peace would bear fruit “in coming weeks”, with a number of other countries declaring their interest in being involved in providing security guarantees for Ukraine
His comments come after French president, Emmanuel Macron, floated the idea of a one-month limited ceasefire that would apply to air, sea and attacks on critical energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy didn’t offer any suggestion if he would accept the proposal, but said he was “aware of everything”
British prime minister, Keir Starmer, earlier announced details of a new £1.6bn UK export finance contract for Ukraine allowing it “to buy more than 5,000 air defence missiles” to help the country’s defence against Russia, as he concluded a London summit with European, Turkish and Canadian leaders
Starmer also confirmed plans to form “a coalition of the willing” to enforce a potential peace deal in Ukraine, which he said the UK was prepared “to back with boots on the ground and planes in the air”
Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, said a number of Nato countries had signalled their plans to increase defence spending, as he urged media to “stop gossiping about what the US might or might not do”, and insisted the country remained committed to Nato
Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said he hoped the EU’s plans to be unveiled next week would “send a very clear impulse showing Putin and Russia that no one here, in the west, intends to surrender to his blackmail and aggression”
Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, offered a passionate defence of Zelenskyy, saying that in his comments in the Oval Office on Friday “he pointed out in so many words that Vladimir Putin is a liar and a criminal and cannot be trusted to keep his word in any way”
After the summit, Zelenskyy also met with King Charles at his estate in Sandringham, where the pair had tea together for nearly an hour. The visit has been seen in Westminster as an attempt to even out treatment of the Ukrainian and US presidents after Starmer invited Donald Trump for a state visit last week
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Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/mar/03/europe-live-blog-updates-trump-putin-zelenskyy-starmer
Author : Martin Belam
Publish date : 2025-03-03 07:34:00
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