Keir Starmer has called for an end to the fighting in Ukraine andsaid military powers will meet next week as plans to secure a peace deal move to an “operational phase”.

The UK prime minister said Vladimir Putin’s “yes, but” approach to a proposed ceasefire was not good enough, and the Russian president would have to negotiate “sooner or later”.

He accused Putin of trying to delay peace, and said it must become a reality after more than three years of war.

Starmer was speaking at a press conference in Downing Street after a virtual meeting of the “coalition of the willing”, including the European Commission, European nations, Nato, Canada, Ukraine, Australia and New Zealand on Saturday morning.

The meeting was addressed by Starmer, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the Ukrainian president, and the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte.

Starmer told journalists: “Sooner or later Putin will have to come to the table. So this is the moment: let the guns fall silent, let the barbaric attacks on Ukraine once and for all stop, and agree to a ceasefire now.”

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/15/ukraine-ceasefire-plans-moving-to-operational-phase-starmer-says