Major European powers threw their weight behind an unconditional 30-day Ukraine ceasefire on Saturday, with the backing of U.S. President Donald Trump, and threatened President Vladimir Putin with "massive" new sanctions if he did not accept within days, APA reports citing Reuters.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Ukraine set the start of the ceasefire for May 12 at a meeting in Kyiv, during which they held a phone call with Trump.
"So all of us here together with the U.S. are calling Putin out. If he is serious about peace, then he has a chance to show it," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told a press conference.
"No more ifs and buts, no more conditions and delays."
Soon after the European leaders' announcement, the Kremlin appeared to pour scorn on it.
"We hear many contradictory statements from Europe. They are generally confrontational in nature rather than aimed at trying to revive our relations. Nothing more," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency Interfax.
"In the event that the ceasefire is violated, massive sanctions will be prepared, in coordination between the Europeans and the United States," French President Emmanuel Macron said.
By imposing new sanctions, the White House would be aligning itself more closely with Western Europe, which has been rattled by a trade war in which Trump has imposed tariffs on them and other countries and has suggested he might not come to the defence of NATO allies that underspend on their defence.
Zelenskyy said he and the visiting leaders had agreed the unconditional ceasefire must start on Monday and cover air, sea and land. If Russia refused, it would face new sanctions, including the strengthening of punitive measures targeting its energy and banking sectors, he said.
The leaders later issued a joint statement summing up the contents of the proposed 30-day ceasefire and saying its main purpose was "to make room for diplomacy".
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