Meeting in London, on Sunday 7 June, the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, and the German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, welcomed the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for an end to the war to be negotiated through diplomatic channels and backed the proposal for direct dialogue between Ukraine and Russia – with the active participation of the United States and Europe – in order to achieve a ceasefire and support the continuation of negotiations.
In a joint statement published after a meeting with Mr Zelensky, the leaders recalled that Europe had an important role to play in any settlement, as a “steadfast supporter” of Ukraine. In their view, five conditions should be met in order to achieve a just and lasting peace: - a stop to the fighting; - the current line of contact should serve as the starting point for negotiations; - robust, legally binding security guarantees once the ceasefire has entered into force; - the immobilisation of Russian assets until Russia ceases its war of aggression and compensates Ukraine for the damage caused by the war; - the safeguarding of Europe’s security interests in any agreement.
Finally, the leaders underlined the urgent need to scale up the production of interceptors and co-develop anti-ballistic missile defence and deep-strike capabilities, as well as to support the future sustainability of the Ukrainian armed forces.
See the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/m7o (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)