Key events
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Closing summary
It is approaching 6pm in Kyiv and Moscow. This blog will be closing shortly, but you can find all the Guardian’s Russia-Ukraine coverage here and Shaun Walker’s latest report from Kyiv below:
Here is a summary of the day’s developments:
European leaders on a joint visit to Kyiv have issued an ultimatum to Vladimir Putin: sign up to an unconditional ceasefire by Monday, or face increased sanctions and weapons transfers to Ukraine. The leaders of the UK, France, Germany and Poland, together with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made a joint phone call to Donald Trump prior to making the announcement. It was the first time the leaders of the four European nations hadmade a joint visit to Ukraine. “We are clear the bloodshed must end. Russia must stop its illegal invasion,” the leaders said in a joint statement.
Zelenskyy told reporters at the news conference after their talks that the ceasefire should cover air, sea and land, and said that if Moscow refused, it would face new sanctions, including the strengthening of punitive measures targeting its energy and banking sectors. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Friday that Russia supported the implementation of a 30-day ceasefire, but only with due consideration of “nuances”.
The Kremlin accused European countries on Saturday of making contradictory and confrontational statements, Interfax news agency reported, after European leaders backed a US plan for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine and threatened Russia with “massive” sanctions if it failed to comply. “We hear many contradictory statements from Europe. They are generally confrontational in nature rather than aimed at trying to revive our relations. Nothing more,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying.
In an earlier interview with ABC News, Peskov said Russia would require a halt to US and European arms supplies to Ukraine during any potential ceasefire. “Otherwise it will be an advantage for Ukraine. Ukraine will continue their total mobilisation, bringing new troops to [the] frontline,” Peskov said.
L-R: German chancellor Friedrich Merz, French president Emmanuel Macron, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UK prime minister Keir Starmer and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk pose for a photo during a meeting of ‘coalition of the willing’ in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images
Keir Starmer has said there is “absolute unity” of countries around the world on Ukraine. Speaking from Kyiv on Saturday, the prime minister was asked if he believed Vladimir Putin wanted peace and why he thought the threat of sanctions would work. Starmer replied: “There’s only one country that stands between peace, and that’s Russia.” Starmer said “all of us here, together with US, are calling Putin out”, adding that if the Russian president was “serious” about peace then “he has a chance to show it now by extending the VE Day pause into a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire”.
Starmer also said UK experts and European partners were working to “boost Ukraine’s economy” in an attempt to support the invaded country’s stability long-term. Speaking at the ‘coalition of the willing’ meeting in Kyiv on Saturday, the UK prime minister said “securing Ukraine’s future for the longer term” had been discussed, with measures including the resumption of flights to Ukraine.
French president Emmanuel Macron called on Saturday for “direct talks” between Ukraine and Russia in the event of a ceasefire in Moscow’s three-year invasion. If there is a 30-day truce, as western countries have floated, “we will look to direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, we are ready to help,” Macron said in an interview with French news outlets TF1 and LCI while travelling to Kyiv to meet European leaders.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz warned Russia would face harder sanctions if it refused a 30-day ceasefire demanded by the west, in an interview published on Saturday by the Bild daily. If Putin does not agree to the truce, “there will be a massive hardening of sanctions and the massive aid to Ukraine will continue – politically, of course, but also financially and militarily,” said Merz.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday backed a proposed unconditional 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine and said that the EU is ready to impose further “biting” sanctions on Russia in the event of a breach of a ceasefire. “The ball is now in Russia’s court. We stand ready to maintain strong pressure on Russia,” said von der Leyen.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said on Saturday after joining a ‘coalition of the willing’ call with Kyiv’s partners that it was clear the group is committed and continues to stand with Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had made four more attempts in the past 24 hours to break across the border into Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions, although Reuters could not independently verify the assertion. Ukraine says Russia has continued to attack it and has called the ceasefire a “farce”.
On Saturday morning, local officials in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region said Russian shelling over the past day had killed three residents and injured four more. Another civilian man died on the spot on Saturday as a Russian drone struck the southern city of Kherson, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin. An Associated Press tally, based on reports from Ukrainian authorities, found at least 117 civilians had been killed and more than 1,000 injured in Russian aerial attacks since Ukraine announced on 11 March its willingness for a ceasefire.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said North Korea’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war was justified, calling it an exercise of sovereign rights in defence of a “brother nation,” state media KCNA reported on Saturday. He also said Pyongyang would not hesitate to authorise the use of military force if the United States persisted in military provocations against Russia.
Updated at 10.46 EDT
Away from Ukraine for a moment, Valdimir Putin has attended a working lunch with the leader of Vietman’s Communist party, Tô Lâm, in Moscow today:
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin (C-R) and leader of Vietman’s Communist party, Tô Lâm (C-L) arrive for a meeting with members of their delegations in Moscow on Saturday. Photograph: Gavriil Grigorov/AFP/Getty ImagesRussian president Vladimir Putin, left, and leader of Vietman’s Communist party, Tô Lâm, right, attend a working lunch with their delegations in the Grand Palace at the Kremlin in Moscow. Photograph: Sergei Bobylev/APShare
Keir Starmer has said that he and European allies “together with the US” are “calling Putin out”, reports the PA news agency.
Speaking from Kyiv, he said the five leaders in the Ukrainian capital on Saturday had agreed on the need for an “unconditional ceasefire”.
The prime minister said “all of us here, together with US, are calling Putin out”.
He said that if the Russian president is “serious” about peace then “he has a chance to show it now by extending the VE Day pause into a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire”.
Starmer added:
No more ifs and buts, no more conditions and delays.
He also said:
Ukraine has shown the willingness to engage again and again, but again and again, Putin has refused.
So we are clear, all five leaders here – all the leaders of the meeting we just had with the coalition of the willing – an unconditional ceasefire, rejecting Putin’s conditions, and clear that if he turns his back on peace, we will respond.
Working with President Trump, with all our partners, we will ramp up sanctions and increase our military aid for Ukraine’s defence to pressure Russia back to the table.
Keir Starmer has said UK experts and European partners are working to “boost Ukraine’s economy” in an attempt to support the invaded country’s stability long-term, reports the PA news agency.
Speaking at the ‘coalition of the willing’ meeting in Kyiv on Saturday, the UK prime minister said “securing Ukraine’s future for the longer term” had been discussed, with measures including the resumption of flights to Ukraine.
Starmer said:
We want to help Ukraine look to the future with confidence.
So we’re working to boost Ukraine’s economy and, as a vital step, I’m pleased that UK experts have been on the ground leading work to support the resumption of flights into Ukraine.
He added:
Once a ceasefire is achieved it will take time but this will be a huge moment in reconnecting Ukraine’s economy, boosting investor confidence, and helping to reunite families separated by this war.
Ukraine secure and thriving: that is what we all want to see.
With our 100-year partnership, the critical minerals deal with the US, and our coalition of the willing, we are building the framework for peace in Ukraine to support a better future for the Ukrainian people, and to pledge once again in all our interests and on this anniversary, that aggression will never prevail on our continent.
L-R: German chancellor Friedrich Merz, French president Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UK prime minister Keir Starmer and Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk at the Presidential Palace in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Saturday. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/APShare
Updated at 10.45 EDT
Kremlin says European countries’ statements are ‘confrontational’ – Interfax reports
The Kremlin accused European countries on Saturday of making contradictory and confrontational statements, Interfax news agency reported, after European leaders backed a US plan for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine and threatened Russia with “massive” sanctions if it failed to comply.
“We hear many contradictory statements from Europe. They are generally confrontational in nature rather than aimed at trying to revive our relations. Nothing more,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying.
Share‘Only one country that stands between peace, and that’s Russia’: says Starmer in Kyiv
Keir Starmer has said there is “absolute unity” of countries around the world on Ukraine, reports the PA news agency.
The prime minister said it “must be Russia that now comes forward and accepts this 30-day unconditional ceasefire”.
Speaking from Kyiv on Saturday, the prime minister was asked if he believes Vladimir Putin wants peace and why he thinks the threat of sanctions would work. Starmer replied:
There’s only one country that stands between peace, and that’s Russia.
He added:
The position we’ve now got to today is absolute unity across a whole range of countries around the world.
Starmer also said the leaders were “clear absolutely there must be an unconditional ceasefire for 30 days. Clear that that means it must be without conditions”.
In Kyiv, UK prime minister Keir Starmer addressed Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying:
Volodymyr and the Ukrainian people, we stood with you in resisting Putin’s aggression but we must now stand with you in the fight for peace.
Putin has, in the last few hours, sought to put conditions on a ceasefire.
It’s really important that we make clear, an unconditional ceasefire is a ceasefire without conditions. We reject the imposition of conditions, and we need to be really clear about that.
It is for Russia to come to the table for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire, and there must be clear sanctions if he fails to do so.
There is real unity on that. We need to be clear that that is one of the main outcomes we want from this meeting of the coalition of the willing, here this morning.
Volodymyr, you have our support in the fight that you have, you have our support in the fight for peace, as we go forward.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer speaks during a press conference in the grounds of the Mariynsky Palace in Kyiv on Saturday. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
UK prime minister Keir Starmer said “one country started this illegal conflict” and “only one country stands in the way of resolving it peacefully” during a meeting of members of the “coalition of the willing” aimed at end the Russian invasion of Ukraine, reports the PA news agency.
Speaking from Kyiv, Starmer said:
It is an important moment because, as Volodymyr [Zelenskyy] has just said, there is this ceasefire-for-30-days proposal that is very clearly now on the table.
Volodymyr, I think you first – with courage – put forward this proposal probably two months ago now, as the way forward? Emmanuel [Macron] and I have been discussing it intensively, including this week, and pushing the case of 30 days.
Other allies in Europe have joined that, and of course the US position is now absolutely clear. So we have unity in relation to the proposal for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire.
That is a really important moment of this conflict that we should focus on in this meeting of the coalition of the willing, and remind ourselves that only one country started this illegal conflict, and that was Russia and Putin, and only one country stands in the way of resolving it peacefully, and that is Russia and Putin.
British prime minister Keir Starmer said in a meeting in the Ukrainian capital with European leaders that the so-called “coalition of the willing” shows “the strength of our unity”.
Sitting alongside Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, Starmer said: “It’s really good that we are hosting this meeting – the coalition of the willing – from Kyiv.
“It is a very important symbolic meeting showing the strength of our unity.
“And it’s timely because this awful conflict has been going on now for over three years, and this week we have been celebrating 80 years since the end of the second world war, VE Day has been celebrated across Europe.
“What the war was about were the values of freedom and democracy and the right of countries to make their own decisions, their sovereign right to do so.
“Those are the same values that we are addressing here today, and so it is timely, it is important and I pay tribute to the courage and resilience of the Ukrainians that have fought this conflict for three long years.”
ShareEuropean leaders issue ceasefire ultimatum to Putin
Shaun Walker
European leaders on a joint visit Kyiv have issued an ultimatum to Vladimir Putin: sign up to an unconditional ceasefire by Monday, or face increased sanctions and weapons transfers to Ukraine.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland, together with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made a joint phone call to Donald Trump prior to making the announcement.
“All of us here, together with the US, are calling Putin out. If he’s serious about peace, then he has a chance to show it now,” said prime minister Keir Starmer at a joint press conference of the five leaders in Kyiv.
Starmer said the leaders were demanding “an unconditional ceasefire, rejecting Putin’s conditions, and [are] clear that if he turns his back on peace, we will respond, working with president Trump, with all our partners, we will ramp up sanctions, and increase our military aid for Ukraine’s defence to pressure Russia back to the table”.
Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz arrived in the Ukrainian capital on the same train on Saturday morning, while Donald Tusk travelled on a separate train. The leaders met with Zelenskyy for talks in central Kyiv.
It is Macron’s first visit to Kyiv since summer 2022, and the first visit for Merz as chancellor for Germany, having only taken office this week.
“All five leaders had a fruitful call with @POTUS focused on peace efforts,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote on X, adding a picture of the five men gathered around a mobile phone on speaker mode.
Sybiha added: “Ukraine and all allies are ready for a full unconditional ceasefire on land, air, and at sea for at least 30 days starting already on Monday. If Russia agrees and effective monitoring is ensured, a durable ceasefire and confidence-building measures can pave the way to peace negotiations.”
Trump and the US administration have said a 30-day ceasefire could be the first step on the way to a sustainable peace deal. Ukraine has said it is ready to implement such a ceasefire but Russia has so far refused, saying it would only do so if all western weapons deliveries to Ukraine were halted.
In an early sign that Russia may not be receptive to the latest ultimatum, the hawkish former president, Dmitry Medvedev, wrote on X: “Macron, Merz, Starmer, and Tusk were supposed to discuss peace in Kiev (sic). Instead, they are blurting out threats against Russia … You think that’s smart, eh? Shove these peace plans up your pangender arses.”
Updated at 09.45 EDT
French president Emmanuel Macron warned on Saturday that Russia would face “massive” coordinated European and US sanctions if it broke a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine proposed by Kyiv’s western allies.
“In the event of a violation of this ceasefire, we have agreed that massive sanctions will be prepared and coordinated between Europeans and Americans,” Macron told a press conference in Kyiv.
Updated at 09.44 EDT
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters at the news conference after their talks that he and the visiting leaders “agreed on Monday, 12 May there must start an unconditional ceasefire”.
He added that it should cover air, sea and land, and said that if Moscow refused, it would face new sanctions, including the strengthening of punitive measures targeting its energy and banking sectors, Reuters reported.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Friday that Russia supported the implementation of a 30-day ceasefire, but only with due consideration of “nuances”.
In remarks to ABC that were aired on Saturday, Peskov suggested that western military assistance for Ukraine would have to stop in order for a temporary ceasefire to happen. “Otherwise it will be an advantage for Ukraine,” he said.
ShareUkraine and European leaders call for unconditional 30-day ceasefire from 12 May
Ukraine and European leaders agreed on Saturday to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire from 12 May with the backing of US president Donald Trump, threatening president Vladimir Putin with new “massive” sanctions if he failed to comply.
The announcement was made by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Ukraine after a meeting in Kyiv, during which they held a phone call with Trump.
Updated at 08.37 EDT
The symbolic show of European unity came a day after Russian president Vladimir Putin struck a defiant tone at a Moscow parade marking 80 years since victory in the second world war, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In an interview with the US news channel ABC on Saturday, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said arms deliveries from Ukraine’s allies would have to stop before Russia would agree to a ceasefire.
A truce would otherwise be an “advantage for Ukraine“ at a time when “Russian troops are advancing … in quite a confident way” on the front, Peskov said, adding that Ukraine was “not ready for immediate negotiations”.
Putin ordered a unilateral three-day truce from Thursday through Saturday. But a Ukrainian army brigade operating in the east told AFP earlier the intensity of fighting had remained “pretty much the same”.
Europe and Ukraine argue more pressure is needed on Russia to respond.
After meeting Donald Tusk in France on Friday, Emmanuel Macron called for the speedy drafting of a US-Europe plan for the 30-day truce that would be backed by “massive economic sanctions” if one side “betrays it”.