In response, the Kremlin said it will “think through” the proposal, without committing to sign anything.
“It is a new development,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin press secretary, said. “But trying to pressure us is quite useless.”
Moscow’s unilateral three-day ceasefire declared for the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany was due to expire on Saturday night.
The unprecedented visit to Kyiv was the first time the leaders of the four European nations had made a joint trip to Ukraine.
Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, and Zelenskyy also held a videoconference with around 20 member countries of the “coalition of the willing” supporting Ukraine.
‘No more ifs and buts’
Afterwards, Starmer said: “So we are clear, all five leaders here – all the leaders of the meeting we just had with the coalition of the willing – an unconditional ceasefire, rejecting Putin’s conditions, and clear that if he turns his back on peace, we will respond.
“Working with president Trump, with all our partners, we will ramp up sanctions and increase our military aid for Ukraine’s defence to pressure Russia back to the table.
“No more ifs and buts. No more conditions and delays. Putin didn’t need conditions when he wanted a ceasefire to have a parade. And he doesn’t need them now.
“Ukraine has shown their willingness to engage again and again. But again and again, Putin has refused.”
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, was not at the meeting, but said that a “comprehensive” 30-day ceasefire, covering attacks from the air, land, sea and on infrastructure, “will start the process for ending the largest and longest war in Europe since World War II”.
Macron said that the US would take the lead in monitoring the proposed agreement, with support from European countries. He threatened “massive sanctions, prepared and co-ordinated, between Europeans and Americans” should Russia violate the truce.
Determination in the west
Addressing scepticism over whether fresh sanctions against Moscow would work, Merz said “almost all member states of the European Union and a large coalition of the willing around the world are determined to enforce these sanctions even if our initiative of the weekend should fail”.
Russia has long said that it was open to talks, accusing Kyiv of closing off that option by adopting a 2022 decree ruling out any negotiation with Putin.
On Friday, Peskov said that Russia supported the implementation of a 30-day ceasefire, but only with due consideration of “a large number of nuances”.
He also suggested that Western military assistance for Ukraine would have to stop for a ceasefire to occur. “Otherwise, it will be an advantage for Ukraine,” he said.
Russia believes it has the advantage on the battlefield and says it is concerned that Ukraine could use a 30-day pause in the war to rest its forces, mobilise more men and get hold of more Western arms.
In Kyiv, Macron did not commit to the Russian proposal.
“There is no precondition. Neither stopping delivery of arms to protect and resist for you [Ukraine],” he told Zelenskyy.
Future safety
The leaders also discussed security guarantees for Ukraine.
Building up the country’s military capabilities will be a key deterrent against Russia, while a force comprised of foreign troops could also be deployed as an added “reassurance” measure, Macron said.
He said details about potential European deployments to Ukraine were still being fine-tuned, and no mention was made of Nato membership, still Kyiv’s top choice for a security guarantee.
Earlier on Saturday, the European leaders joined a ceremony at Kyiv’s Independence Square marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. They lit candles alongside Zelenskyy at a makeshift flag memorial for fallen Ukrainian soldiers and civilians killed since Russia’s invasion.
Hours before, and despite Russia’s own supposed ceasefire, three people were killed and four others wounded by Russian shelling in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region. Another civilian died on Saturday as a Russian drone struck the southern city of Kherson, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
The US embassy in Kyiv on Friday warned of a “potentially significant” Russian air attack in the coming days, without giving details.
In November Russia gave the US brief advance warning before striking Ukraine for the first time with its Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, an experimental hypersonic weapon that Putin claimed could travel at 10 times the speed of sound.
Ukrainian Telegram channels linked the embassy’s warning to reports of an imminent flight ban by Moscow over the Kapustin Yar military training and rocket launch complex. A similar flight ban preceded November’s strike.
