European leaders under pressure Russia over 30 days of ceasefire

European leaders have asked Russia to agree on an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from Monday.

The call was issued in Kyiv at a meeting of the “Coalition of the will”. The leaders of France, Germany, Great Britain and Poland were organized by Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, while others joined them.

After discussing the plan with US President Donald Trump, they initially prompted the announcement. The leaders threatened Russia with “massive” sanctions if it does not correspond.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starrer said that the goal of the coalition of willingness was to show that “aggression on our continent will never prevail”.

“As soon as a ceasefire has been reached, it will take some time, but this will be a big moment to combine the economy of Ukraine again, to strengthen the trust of investors and to combine the families separated by this war,” Starrer told reporters.

Together with Zelensky, the French President Emmanuel Macron, the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Zelensky said: “Thank you for being with us. Today we will concentrate on how we can build and guarantee real and permanent security.”

So far, Russia has insisted that the West, before he has considered an armistice, must first stop military help to Ukraine.

However, Zelksy said that the ceasefire should be unconditional.

“Attempts to submit conditions would have to prove the intention of extending the war and undermining diplomacy,” he added.

Macron said that the planned ceasefire would mainly be monitored by the United States with the help of European countries. In the event of a violation, he said “massive sanctions were prepared and coordinated between Europeans and Americans”.

Merz said the war that began with the full invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – was “only an aggression war by Russia that violates international law”.

The Kyiv meeting was a symbolic reaction to the more than 20 leaders who connected a Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow the day before.

Other leaders who had joined the Kyiv meeting were Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and Mark Rutte, the general secretary of NATO.

A 30-hour armistice, which was called from Putin to Mark Russia's day of the victory on Friday, is scheduled to end later on Saturday. It has a decline in the fights, but both sides have accused the other violations.

The coalition of the will was formed to strengthen a possibly peace agreement with security guarantees, including the possibility of placing troops in Ukraine.

Trump previously confirmed the call for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire after a call to Zelensky.

“If the ceasefire is not respected, the United States and its partners will impose further sanctions,” he wrote on social media.

In response to this, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Europeans of having made contradictory statements who “are generally confrontational and do not aim to revive our relationships”.

The reports on Russian attacks in Ukraine are continued despite Russia's demands from a temporary ceasefire.

An 85-year-old woman was killed in the northern region of Sumy, three more were injured, 19 residential buildings and 10 other buildings were destroyed or damaged, the Ukrainian police said.

In the Kostyantynivka in the Eastern Donetsk region, one person was injured and two apartment blocks caught fire after Russian attacks, said DSNS of the Ukrainian state of Emergency Service.

In the southern city of Kherson, a 58-year-old resident was looking for medical help after being attacked by a Russian drone with explosives, the regional government said.