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The UK has distanced itself from a proposal by French President Emmanuel Macron for a limited initial one-month truce between Russia and Ukraine, while Kyiv raised reservations about stopping fighting without security guarantees.
The differences emerged after a showpiece London summit in which Europe’s biggest powers sought to project unity and develop a common plan following a disastrous White House meeting between presidents Donald Trump of the US and Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine.
Macron said after Sunday’s summit that his idea for a limited, one-month ceasefire “in the air, at sea and on energy infrastructure” would have the advantage of verifying Russia’s intentions. The French president has a record of floating policy ideas to push allies towards agreement.
The UK, which hosted the summit, said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wanted to move forward with the peace plan “with momentum”. But Starmer’s allies said the one-month truce was not “a UK plan”.
A British official said: “There are various options on the table, subject to further discussions with the US and European partners, but a one-month truce has not been agreed.”
UK armed forces minister Luke Pollard warned on Monday against a pause in the fighting in Ukraine that could enable Russia to regroup.
He told Sky News: “The very real worry that the Ukrainians have is that any short pause in the war simply allows the Russians time to re-arm, regroup and reinvade.”
Zelenskyy has also rejected calls for Ukraine to agree an immediate ceasefire in its war with Russia. As he departed the UK from the summit, he said it would be “failure for everyone” if a cessation of hostilities were not accompanied by detailed security guarantees.
He declined to comment on Macron’s proposal.
The French president told Le Figaro on Sunday that a one-month truce in the air and sea would be easier than overseeing a truce on the ground along the entire front line. “In the event of a ceasefire, it would be very difficult to verify that the front is being respected,” he said.
“We can measure it,” he said. “You have to understand that the front today is equivalent to the Paris-Budapest line. In the event of a ceasefire, it would be very difficult to verify that the front is being respected.”
The French and British leaders are hoping a deal would involve US cover for troops from a European “coalition of the willing” deployed to secure any ceasefire in Ukraine.
Starmer said after the summit that while Europe “must do the heavy lifting”, the “effort must have strong US backing”. The European plan would also see Zelenskyy sign a deal with the US to share some of the profits from exploiting Ukraine’s mineral reserves.
That agreement had been intended to be concluded on Friday, but was left unsigned after Trump ejected Zelenskyy from the White House following their dispute in the Oval Office.
Lord Peter Mandelson, UK ambassador to Washington, urged Zelenskyy to sign the minerals deal and called on Ukraine and European leaders to give “unequivocal backing to the initiative President Trump is taking” to broker a peace.
In comments that Pollard, the UK armed forces minister, said were not “government policy”, Mandelson told ABC: “Ukraine should be first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow.”
Zelenskyy said he saw no need to make amends following the White House confrontation or come up with a plan to salvage his relationship with Trump, although he restated his gratitude to the American people.
“If you don’t have an end to the war and you don’t have security guarantees, no one is able to control a ceasefire,” the Ukrainian president said from London’s Stansted airport as he prepared to fly back to Kyiv.
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