LONDON — The leaders of the U.K., Germany, France and Poland will visit Ukraine on Saturday in an attempt to pile pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree a 30-day ceasefire and open meaningful peace talks after three years of war.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Poland’s PM Donald Tusk, and the new Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, will all be in the Ukrainian capital to show their solidarity with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The optics of the display of European unity are critical: The leaders’ visit to Kyiv comes just a day after Putin hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping and dozens of other friendly leaders in Moscow for Russia’s “Victory Day” parade, commemorating 80 years since its triumph over the Nazis in World War II.
Ahead of their trip, the European leaders issued a joint statement which followed U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed call for Russia to agree to a 30-day truce, allowing time for negotiations, or face “further sanctions” from “the U.S. and its partners.” It is not clear if Trump was asked to sign up to the joint statement, though the criticism of Putin contained within it goes significantly further than anything the U.S. president has said.
“We, the leaders of France, Germany, Poland the United Kingdom will stand in Kyiv in solidarity with Ukraine against Russia’s barbaric and illegal full-scale invasion,” the four European leaders said in their statement. “We reiterate our backing for President Trump’s calls for a peace deal and call on Russia to stop obstructing efforts to secure an enduring peace.
“Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace.”
The leaders said they were ready to support the negotiations “as soon as possible” including to discuss the “technical implementation” of the ceasefire.
“We are clear the bloodshed must end, Russia must stop its illegal invasion, and Ukraine must be able to prosper as a safe, secure and sovereign nation within its internationally recognized borders for generations to come,” they said. “We will continue to increase our support for Ukraine. Until Russia agrees to an enduring ceasefire, we will ratchet up pressure on Russia’s war machine.”
Saturday’s visit is the first time the leaders of the four countries have travelled together to Ukraine – and Merz’s first trip to Kyiv since taking office as German chancellor earlier this week.
After visiting memorials to casualties of the war and holding talks with Zelenskyy, the quartet are expected to join counterparts from other countries in a video call to discuss progress on the so-called “coalition of the willing” — those nations that have offered to contribute to some form of future peacekeeping initiative.
A statement from Starmer’s office described the initiative as “a future coalition of an air, land, maritime and regeneration force that would help regenerate Ukraine’s armed forces after any peace deal and strengthen confidence in any future peace.”
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