BRITAIN said on Monday there were several possible proposals on the table for a possible Ukraine ceasefire, after France floated a proposal for a month-long initial truce that could pave the way for peace talks.
“There are clearly a number of options on the table,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman said. “I’m just not getting into a running commentary on the options.”
European countries, led by Britain and France, are looking at options for a peace proposal including Ukraine after last week’s Oval Office rupture between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Starmer hosted a summit of European leaders in London on Sunday and said European leaders had agreed to draw up a Ukraine peace plan to present to the United States.
In an interview given on his way to the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility of a one-month ceasefire, although so far there has been no public endorsement from other allies.
“Such a truce on air, sea and energy infrastructure would allow us to determine whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is acting in good faith when he commits to a truce,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Monday of Macron’s proposal.
“And that’s when real peace negotiations could start.”
Zelenskiy, asked if he was aware of the plan for a month-long truce mentioned by Macron, told reporters in London: “I’m aware of everything.”
France, Britain and potentially other European countries have offered to send troops to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, but say they would want support in some form from the U.S., a proposal referred to as a “backstop”.
Zelenskiy says a ceasefire must come with explicit security guarantees from the West to ensure Russia, which invaded Ukraine three years ago and holds about 20% of its territory, does not attack again. Trump has refused to give any such guarantees.
European countries are adjusting to what some leaders describe as the biggest policy reversal since World War Two from Washington, especially after Friday’s bust-up, when Zelenskiy left the White House abruptly after a dressing down in front of cameras by Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
Merz says Oval Office clash ‘not spontaneous’
Friedrich Merz, the conservative due to become Germany’s chancellor after winning the largest share of the vote in an election a week ago, suggested Friday’s Oval Office argument was a trap set in advance for the Ukrainian leader.
“It was not a spontaneous reaction to interventions by Zelenskiy, but obviously a manufactured escalation,” he said.
“We must now show that we are in a position to act independently in Europe,” he said.
Privately, European officials have been fuming at what they saw as a betrayal of Ukraine, which had previously enjoyed staunch support from the United States since Russia’s invasion.
One senior official declared in the aftermath of the blow-up: “Donald Trump has to choose if he wants to call himself a leader of the free world, or leader of an extortion gang. The latter is not interesting for Europe.”
But Europeans are also still working hard to keep the U.S. on side. Peter Mandelson, Britain’s ambassador to the United States, said Ukrainian-U.S. relations needed to be reset, as Trump’s initiative to end the war was “the only show in town”.
Trump spoke by phone with Putin last month and then announced that negotiations to end the war would begin quickly, but his contact with Moscow blindsided the EU and Zelenskiy, raising concerns they would have a deal imposed on them.
European leaders agreed they must spend more on defence to show Trump the continent can protect itself. The European Union is due to hold an emergency summit on Thursday.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she will inform member states on Tuesday about plans to strengthen the European defence industry and the EU’s military capabilities.
“We need a massive surge in defence, without any question. We want lasting peace, but lasting peace can only be built on strength, and strength begins with strengthening ourselves.”
Russia has openly gloated over Friday’s clash between Trump and Zelenskiy, praising Trump for altering U.S. policy and denouncing Zelenskiy for challenging Trump’s proposals.
“We see that the collective West has partially begun to lose its collectivity, and a fragmentation of the collective West has begun,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“There remains a group of countries that rather constitutes the party of war, which declares its readiness to further support Ukraine in terms of supporting the war and ensuring the continuation of hostilities.”
Reuters
