Can’t allow Russia to play games with peace: UK PM Keir Star
Can’t allow Russia to play games with peace: UK PM Keir Starmer to world leaders
We can’t allow President Putin to play games with President Trump’s deal, said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in virtual meeting with world leaders from 25 countries
LONDON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted a virtual meeting with
world leaders from 25 countries on Saturday to bolster a so-called “Coalition
of the Willing” against Russia in its ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
“We can’t allow President Putin to play games with
President Trump’s deal,” said Starmer from 10 Downing Street in London.
Leaders representing Ukraine, the European Union (EU)
Commission, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Canada, Australia and
New Zealand were expected to have joined the meeting to discuss the peace deal
being negotiated by US President Donald Trump.
The call comes ahead of a military planning session next
week when these countries will decide on the nature of troop deployments to
support peace in the region.
“If Putin is serious about peace, it’s very simple: he
has to stop his barbaric attacks on Ukraine and agree to a ceasefire; and the
world is watching,” he said.
Starmer accused the Russian administration at the Kremlin
of a “complete disregard” for Trump’s 30-day ceasefire proposal.
“It only serves to demonstrate that [Russian President]
Putin is not serious about peace. If Russia finally comes to the table, then we
must be ready to monitor a ceasefire to ensure it is a serious, and enduring
peace; if they don’t, then we need to strain every sinew to ramp up economic
pressure on Russia to secure an end to this war,” he said.
Starmer accused Putin of trying to delay matters by
calling for a “painstaking study” before a ceasefire can take place.
“But the world needs to see action, not a study or empty
words and pointless conditions. My message to the Kremlin could not be clearer:
stop the barbaric attacks on Ukraine, once and for all, and agree to a
ceasefire now. Until then we will keep working around the clock to deliver
peace,” he added.
The UK believes countries need to ratchet up economic
pressure on Russia to force Putin into negotiations in the short term and be
prepared to support a “just and enduring peace in Ukraine” over the long term.
It also wants to continue to “ramp up” military support
for Ukraine to enable Kyiv to defend itself against Russia.
As part of a three-point agenda, Starmer called on the
world leaders to keep strengthening Ukraine, be prepared to defend any deal
through a Coalition of the Willing, and keep up the pressure on Russia.
According to Downing Street, Saturday’s call follows a
week of "intensive diplomacy" by UK ministers after Defence Secretary
John Healey travelled to Paris to meet counterparts from Germany, France,
Poland and Italy, and the Foreign Secretary travelled to Canada for G7 Foreign
Ministers.
The UK government has indicated that Britain could send
peacekeepers to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire deal, but has called
Washington to offer a security “backstop” to those forces.
It comes after Ukraine backed the American proposal for a
30-day ceasefire, but Putin said that "lots of questions" remain over
that proposal.
Moscow has reportedly also presented a "list of
demands" to the US to end the war.
