UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Vladimir Putin cannot be allowed to “play games” with the possibility of a ceasefire in Ukraine, The Guardian reported on 14 March.
He made the statement before a virtual meeting on 15 March with the “coalition of the willing,” a group of nations committed to helping keep peace in Ukraine. Starmer reportedly will present a proposals for a peace deal for 25 world leaders.
According to The Guardian, he would “seek to pile pressure” on the Russian president to “finally come to the table” and “stop the barbaric attacks on Ukraine” following Kyiv’s agreement to an immediate 30-day ceasefire this week.
The meeting is expected to include European nations, the EU Commission, NATO, Canada, Ukraine, Australia, and New Zealand. Participants will provide updates on aid they could contribute toward enforcing a peace deal.
“We can’t allow President Putin to play games with President Trump’s deal,” Starmer said. “The Kremlin’s complete disregard for President Trump’s ceasefire proposal only serves to demonstrate that Putin is not serious about peace.”
The UK prime minister criticized Putin for offering “empty words and pointless conditions” instead of genuine engagement with peace efforts.
After talks with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East and close ally, on 13 March about 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, Putin praised Donald Trump for “doing everything” to improve relations between Moscow and Washington. This followed Trump’s statement that the US has had “very good and productive discussions” with Putin recently.
The exchange of warm words between Trump and Putin has raised concerns in Kyiv and European capitals, where there are fears about the new US administration developing closer ties with Moscow while pressuring Ukraine.
Trump expressed optimism on 14 March during a speech at the Department of Justice, saying the US had “good calls” with Ukraine and Russia. “I think we’ve had some very good results,” he said. “Just before I came here I got some pretty good news.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed skepticism about Putin’s intentions, saying that Putin would “drag” everyone into “endless discussions… wasting days, weeks, and months on meaningless talks while his guns continue to kill people.”
“Putin cannot exit this war because that would leave him with nothing,” Zelenskyy added. “That is why he is now doing everything he can to sabotage diplomacy by setting extremely difficult and unacceptable conditions right from the start even before a ceasefire.”
A controversy has also emerged over claims made by both Putin and Trump about Ukrainian troops supposedly surrounded by the Russian army in the Kursk Oblast. The Ukrainian military and independent analysts have explicitly denied these claims, with the Ukrainian general staff calling them “false and fabricated by the Russians for political manipulation.”
Despite apparent White House optimism about peace prospects, US intelligence services have reportedly assessed that Putin remains committed to achieving “his maximalist goal of dominating Ukraine,” according to The Washington Post.
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