(From Left) Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrive to a press conference after their meeting in the capital Kyiv on May 10, 2025. (Photo by Genya Savilov / AFP)
Leaders of Western nations including the United States demanded Saturday that Moscow implement an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine starting Monday or they would strengthen sanctions against Russia’s banking and energy sectors.
"We together demand this from Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. "We know that the United States supports us in this.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin countered late Saturday with a proposal to start direct talks in Istanbul next week.
"We are committed to serious negotiations with Ukraine … to remove the root causes of the conflict,” he told a news conference. "I do not exclude that during these negotiations it will be possible to agree on some new ceasefire.”
Zelensky said last month that Ukraine was open to holding direct talks with Russia if Moscow agreed to a ceasefire.
Leaders of the "coalition of the willing” - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz - met with Zelensky in Kyiv on Saturday and said Russia must stop all attacks by ground, sea and air from Monday.
The US envoy to Ukraine, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, reposted a picture of the five leaders on a call Saturday with President Donald Trump and said a 30-day ceasefire would start the process of ending the largest and longest war in Europe since World War II. The White House did not comment on the ceasefire proposal.
US representatives have met with their Russian counterparts for months, but the administration’s conciliatory approach has yielded no progress. Russia launched its all-out war on Ukraine in 2022.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described Europe’s demands as "contradictory” and "confrontational” Saturday. He told reporters that Putin was open "to dialogue with any leaders to the extent that the leaders themselves are ready.”
Peskov told ABC News on Saturday that Russia would agree to a ceasefire only after the West stopped supplying Ukraine with weapons.
Starmer countered that Putin didn’t set conditions for the unilateral three-day ceasefire Russia declared to honor the 80th anniversary Friday of the end of World War II in Europe.
"If he is serious about peace, then he has the chance to show it,” Starmer said.
Key to the Western leaders’ announcement in Kyiv was that Washington backed their position. They said the administration had agreed to strengthen sanctions against Russia, continue to provide military aid to Ukraine and maintain pressure until a peace deal was achieved.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, posted a picture on social media of the five leaders on the call with Trump at Kyiv’s presidential palace Saturday. Sybiha described the call as "fruitful” and said "a durable ceasefire and confidence-building measures can pave the way to peace negotiations.”
The White House’s tone on Russia has shifted over the past week. Vice President JD Vance said the Kremlin was demanding "too much” and warned the US would walk away from talks if Russia didn’t show a willingness for peace.
The Trump administration proposed an unconditional 30-day ceasefire in March in a bid to create space for detailed talks it hoped would bring the three-year war to an end. Ukraine agreed, but Russia insisted on several preconditions.
Zelensky said Saturday that he expected that Russia would violate the ceasefire, but he believed hostilities would cease eventually. He said he was "counting” on the US to impose more sanctions against Russia if needed.
Few details were offered on how the ceasefire might be enforced and peace maintained. Until the fighting ended, Macron said, the coalition would work on strengthening Ukraine and its military.
Separately, Zelensky dismissed a proposal by Kellogg to establish a 30-kilometer demilitarized zone in Ukraine controlled by both sides.
Kellogg said Wednesday that Ukraine had accepted the proposal, which would require both sides to pull back 15 kilometers. But Zelensky said the idea was poorly conceived. He gave the example of the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson, where Russian and Ukrainian troops are separated by a river that is less than a kilometer wide. Pulling back would mean relinquishing control over the city, Zelensky said.
