Stmerer told leaders that he attended the meeting – among which Portugal, represented by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro – that they should not be “simply waiting” but continuing to support Ukraine in a military and financial manner, and also to prepare a peacekeeping force
British Prime Minister Keir Strmer has exhorted several international leaders on Saturday who “maintain pressure” on Russian President Vladimir Putin, to accept one and start peace negotiations.
“If (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is talking seriously about peace, he’s very simple, he has to stop his barbaric attacks against Ukraine and accept a ceasefire,” Starmer said in the opening intervention of a virtual meeting with 25 nations, including from Europe, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The European Union and the NATO are also present.
Vladimir Putin will have “sooner or later” to “sit at the negotiation table and participate in a serious discussion, but-and this is a big one but for us this morning-we cannot sit down and simply expect it to happen,” he said. “We have to continue moving, advance and prepare for peace, a safe and enduring peace.”
In Stmerer’s opinion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, present at the conference, “showed once again that Ukraine is the Peace Party, because he agreed and committed himself to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.” He added, “Now, what we see, and this is the central point of our discussions today, is that Putin is trying to delay. If Putin is talking seriously about peace, he’s very simple: he has to stop barbarian attacks on Ukraine and agree with a ceasefire.”
Stmerer told leaders that they attended the meeting – among which Portugal, represented by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro – that they should not be “waiting” but continuing to support Ukraine military and financially, as well as preparing a peacekeeping force. “Given the developments of the last days, [temos de] Maintain pressure on Putin to feel at the negotiation table. And I think that we collectively have a number of ways to do so, “he added.
British Prime Minister Keir Strmer reiterated the need to continue the work to form what he calls “Coalition of the Willing,” a coalition of countries willing to participate in a peacekeeping force with soldiers or military means. A military planning session should be held next week.
Today’s conference takes place after several weeks of intense diplomacy by European countries to show the United States the availability to participate in a peace process, but also from the US, which has kept contacts with Kiev and Moscow to reach an understanding.
This week, Kiev accepted the US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire, more than three years after the Russian invasion, but Putin expressed reserves about this plan and raised “important questions” that need to be addressed before a truce could be reached.
The G7 expressed, in a final statement after a meeting of the Foreign Ministers, its “unshakable support” to Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” and threatened Russia with new sanctions if it does not support the US proposal of a 30-day truce, already accepted by Kiev but found resistance from Kremlin.
