LONDON/KYIV (News Agency ) – The leaders of Britain, Germany and France said on Sunday they supported a proposal for talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to secure a ceasefire, and Europe would play a role. In a joint statement, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron commended Zelenskiy’s call for an end to the war and the proposal for direct dialogue between Ukraine and Russia, with active U.S. and European participation.
The three leaders, who head an informal security alliance called the E3 that is one of Ukraine’s main sources of international support, were joined on Sunday by Zelenskiy in Downing Street. “Leaders commended President Zelenskiy’s call for an end to the war, negotiated by diplomatic means, as set out in his letter to the president,” Sunday’s joint statement said. Zelenskiy said in a post on X that he also told Starmer Ukraine needed more missiles for air defence systems, just days after he published an open letter to Putin proposing face-to-face talks about ending the war, now in its fifth year. Zelenskiy’s proposal was rebuffed by the Russian president.
