During crunch talks to mark the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, European allies also stood by their vows to slap extra sanctions on the Kremlin to ramp-up pressure to end the brutal war
Keir Starmer and European allies today demanded Russian despot Vladimir Putin agree to an “unconditional ceasefire”.
World leaders also stood by their vows to slap extra sanctions on the Kremlin to ramp-up pressure to end the brutal war. It came during crunch talks of the Coalition of the Willing to mark the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The group is making preparations to support Kyiv and police any peace deal agreed with Putin’s Russia. Over 30 leaders joined the call on Tuesday alongside Ukraine’s wartime leader President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
A joint statement from the group’s chairs, including Mr Starmer, said the leaders “offered their full and sustained support as Ukraine fights for its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to defend Europe’s freedom”. It said “all relevant parties” must be involved in peace talks and warned international borders must not be changed by force.
As the war enters its fifth year on Wednesday, the leaders “urged Russia to engage in the discussions in a meaningful way, and to agree to a full, unconditional ceasefire”.
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The statement added: “They reaffirmed their commitment to ramp up economic pressure on Russia including through additional sanctions and by targeting the Russian Shadow Fleet and oil trading networks, the Russian Military Industrial Complex and disrupting Russia’s financial networks.”
“The leaders noted the grim toll that Russia has paid for minimal gains on the battlefield, suffering almost half a million casualties last year alone.” Earlier, the UK Defence Secretary John Healey said he wanted to make 2026 the year the brutal conflict ends, adding the war had been “four years of failure for Putin”.
He said: “This is a war he thought he would win in a week, he has lost more than a million men during that time and Russia has been fighting in Ukraine for longer than the Soviet Union was fighting Germany during the Second World War.”
Mr Healey said: “I want to make 2026, like President Zelensky does, the year that this war ends, that we can bring peace. The UK is ready to play a part in securing that peace for the long term.”
Mr Starmer also said Britain would stand by the brave poeple of Ukraine for “as long as it takes” as he praised their incredible resilience at a meeting of the Cabinet on Tuesday. The PM told his top team: “When this conflict broke out four years ago, it was assumed it would be a matter of weeks before Putin took the whole of Ukraine.
“That’s what everybody believed. Four years later, the Ukrainians are holding out against that aggression, holding out on the front line where the circumstances are extremely challenging, but also holding out in civilian life where every day Ukrainians get up and go to work as a sign of resilience and defiance.
“And we must defeat the falsehood that Russia is winning. Because if you look at the last year alone, Russia took 0.8% of land in Ukraine at a terrible cost to themselves, half a million losses.” The door to No10 was also decorated with a wreath with flowers in the yellow and blue colours of Ukraine, designed by artist Yulia Borysenko.