G7 allies united in calling for Ukraine ceasefire with no conditions – Lammy
The Foreign Secretary issued a joint statement in Canada with his counterparts.
G7 allies are united in calling for a ceasefire with “no conditions” to halt the fighting in Ukraine, David Lammy has said in a bid to pressure Vladimir Putin as he resists accepting peace proposals.
It came as Donald Trump said on Friday the US had “very good and productive” discussions with the Russian leader, claiming there was a “very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end.”
The Russian leader has claimed “the idea is correct, and we certainly support it” but questioned the details of the US-brokered plan and appeared to indicate certain provisos would be required for the Kremlin to fully agree to it.
“Ukraine has set their position out. It is now for Russia to accept it. I think that there is a coalition of the willing emerging to give Ukraine the security architecture and arrangements that they need, and to get into the detail of any monitoring of that ceasefire, going forward.
“On all of that, there was common ground, and the G7 family came together.”
But although the ministers discussed the need for security guarantees to ensure Ukraine could deter “renewed acts of aggression”, they stopped short of directly attributing that aggression to Moscow or specifically condemning Russian actions.
Meanwhile, in a post on his Truth Social media platform, Mr Trump said: “We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday, and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end
— BUT, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY, AND IN A VERY BAD AND VULNERABLE POSITION.
“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all!!!”
In his nightly address in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian leader was too “afraid” to tell Mr Trump he wants to continue the war.
“That’s why, in Moscow, they are surrounding the ceasefire idea with such pre-conditions that it either fails or gets dragged out for as long as possible,” he said.
Meanwhile, speaking alongside the Nato secretary general Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, Mr Trump said: “A lot of the details of a final agreement have actually been discussed … Now we’re going to see if Russia is there and, if not, it will be a very disappointing moment for the world.”
Speaking on Fox News, US national security adviser Mike Waltz suggested Russia could get the Donbas industrial region as part of a peace deal.
In 2022, Moscow illegally annexed the Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk cities, which make up the Donbas, but Russian forces do not fully control the area.
A series of suggestions about what an agreement might look like were put to Mr Waltz, including that “maybe the Donbas region in particular… that would go to Putin”, to which he replied: “You’re not wrong in any of that.
“What’s important is we are discussing those things with both sides.”
It is unclear whether he was suggesting the territory could be formally ceded to the Kremlin.
He said the US has “cautious optimism” an agreement can be reached soon after Mr Witkoff’s meeting.
Running alongside efforts to broker a ceasefire between the two sides are discussions among the so-called “coalition of the willing” about how to best help Kyiv deter future Russian aggression in the event of a peace deal.
Sir Keir Starmer will convene a summit of European and Commonwealth nations on Saturday to consider support options, which he has said could include deploying British peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
