Starmer, Macron, Merz and Zelensky Issue Demands for Russia Ceasefire and Announce More Military Aid, Sanctions

Keir Starmer hosted a late-night summit in Downing Street with Volodymyr Zelensky, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz. The four leaders set out five conditions for any peace deal with Russia and announced plans for further military support for Ukraine and greater economic pressure on Russia at upcoming G7 and Nato summits.

The leaders called on Vladimir Putin to agree to an immediate and complete ceasefire.

They stated that the current line of contact between Ukrainian and Russian forces should be the starting point for any negotiations. The conditions also require robust guarantees on Ukraine’s safety, that Russian assets remain frozen until Russia compensates Ukraine for the war, and that Europe should have a say in any agreement.

The leaders warned of the urgent need to ramp up production of defensive weapons against Russia’s hypersonic Oreshnik missiles.

A readout after the meeting said they condemned Russia’s large-scale missile and drone attacks, including the repeated use of Oreshnik missiles on Ukrainian cities, as well as Russian drone incursions into Nato territory. The leaders underlined the urgent need to scale up production of interceptors, co-develop anti-ballistic missile and deep strike capabilities, and support the future sustainability of the Ukrainian armed forces.

The summit took place hours after a drone strike struck a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel nine miles from the Chernobyl power plant.

The strike sparked a fire that was extinguished within an hour, and officials said radiation levels remained within safe levels. Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Ukraine could maintain its recent attacks deep into Russia if the war continues. He pledged that Ukraine will not silently die.

Zelensky told Sky News: “We will not just silently die. We will respond. ” Earlier this week Zelensky proposed a face-to-face meeting with Putin, but the Russian leader has rejected the idea. Russia deployed the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile during a large-scale drone and missile assault on Kyiv in May.

It was the third recorded use of the Oreshnik missile in the war. Putin has described the weapon as travelling at Mach 10 and said in 2024 that there are currently no ways of counteracting it. On Saturday a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack targeted St Petersburg.

Zelensky said the focus of Sunday’s meeting would be Ukraine’s defence in the war, greater cooperation for the security of all of Europe in air defence, and discussion of diplomatic prospects.