President Donald Trump has joined European leaders in calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine.
Following a meeting between U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Starmer told reporters that Putin must accept the ceasefire, adding that there should be “no more ifs and buts, no more conditions and delays.”
Calling President Trump together from Kyiv.Our joint call: there must be a 30-day ceasefire starting Monday, unconditional, that paves the way for a solid and lasting peace in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/MloOm6YYHj
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 10, 2025
During the meeting between the European leaders, Macron called Trump, and together, the group briefed him, eventually securing his agreement to support their demands. Macron later told reporters that if accepted, the ceasefire will have “oversight provided mainly by the United States of America, and to which all Europeans will contribute.”
Macron told reporters that a ceasefire would provide all parties with the opportunity to begin negotiations for a “robust and lasting peace on the question of territories, the question of sensitive energy infrastructures, and of course the question of security guarantees.”
Prior to the meeting, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had rejected calls for an extended ceasefire, citing Western military support for Kyiv as its reason. Macron responded to this news via reporters, telling them, “anything that disturbs the process by imposing conditions is, in a way, a delaying tactic to avoid peace.”
At a press conference in Kyiv, Merz spoke for the group of leaders, telling gathered press, “we are thankful that the American president fully supports our initiative.”
The news of Trump’s support for a ceasefire came soon after an Axios report on the MAGA response to the Trump administration’s changing rhetoric on Russia was published. The outlet interviewed big names in the MAGA-verse, including Jack Posobiec, about the fact that both Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance have been more critical of Putin in recent weeks.
Posobiec said of the change, “In general, the MAGA base is not on board with extending or expanding the war and trust Trump when he is in negotiation mode. But I don’t think extra payments [to Ukraine] will go over well.”
This week, Vance said that Russia was “asking for too much,“ referring to Putin wanting to control territory currently not occupied by Russia as part of a potential peace deal. Last month, after Russia fired missiles at civilian-occupied areas of Ukraine, Trump said of Putin, “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently.”
The comments are a departure from the administration’s previous language around the conflict, which saw both Trump and Vance chastising Zelensky during his visit to the White House in February.
During the meeting, Vance berated Zelensky for not publicly thanking the Trump administration and for failing to express support for any peace deal the U.S. dictates, telling him that it was “disrespectful“ to travel to D.C. and demand anything more than a ceasefire. In addition, a week prior to his visit, Trump called Zelensky an “unelected dictator“ who has done a “terrible job.”
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