After Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s blowout with United States President Donald Trump at the Oval Office in Washington, the crucial summit held in the UK on Sunday showed Europe’s ‘unity’ in finding a peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
French President Emmanuel Macron during the summit put forward a ceasefire proposal, a limited initial one-month truce between Russia and Ukraine. Kyiv has held its reservations on the proposal as it believes that any limited pause in the war would favour the Russians.
VIDEO | European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) after attending the European Leaders' Summit in London, says, "We had a very good and frank discussion. Of course, security guarantees are of utmost importance for Ukraine, but we need comprehensive… pic.twitter.com/BVnsszU4ky
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) March 3, 2025
Ukraine stated that it would not agree to any ‘limited’ ceasefire deal without security guarantees.
However, the UK distanced from Macron’s proposal.
Foreign Affairs Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats @CalumMillerLD says the party fully supports Keir Starmer in working with the UK's European allies on defence so 'we're no longer dependent on the United States'. https://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 3, 2025
📺 Sky 501 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/YXK08IfbZ8
The UK and France have agreed to work on Ukraine’s peace plan with the aim of ending the war after the White House showdown. Starmer said that the peace plan would be shared with Washington after the discussions.
UK has hosted the London summit to work on the peace plan as a move to appease the US.
Macron said that his idea for a limited, one-month ceasefire "in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure" would have the advantage of verifying Russia's intentions.
While Starmer wanted to move forward with the peace plan "with momentum". UK officials said that the one-month truce was not "a UK plan".
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"There are various options on the table, subject to further discussions with the US and European partners, but a one-month truce has not been agreed," said a UK official.
They worry that any pause in the war would allow the “Russians time to regroup, re-arm and reinvade”.
Russia criticised the London summit saying that plans to increase funding to Kyiv will not help bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
The funding from European leaders, including a $2 billion air-defence missiles deal from Britain, will cause the war to go on.
"It's very important that someone forces Zelenskyy himself to change his position. He doesn't want peace. Someone must make Zelenskyy want peace," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy after the summit said that Ukraine is ready to sign the minerals deal with the US. The agreement had been intended to be concluded on Friday but was left unsigned after the White House showdown.
