UK Hosts European Ministers for Ukraine Talks after Ceasefire Ultimatum

The so-called "Weimar+" group is expected to meet in the UK to discuss a potential ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP
The so-called "Weimar+" group is expected to meet in the UK to discuss a potential ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP
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UK Hosts European Ministers for Ukraine Talks after Ceasefire Ultimatum

The so-called "Weimar+" group is expected to meet in the UK to discuss a potential ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP
The so-called "Weimar+" group is expected to meet in the UK to discuss a potential ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE/AFP

The UK will on Monday host European ministers for "critical" talks on "repelling Russian aggression", two days after Ukraine's allies demanded that Moscow accept a ceasefire.

Representatives from France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the EU will join Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London for a meeting of the so-called "Weimar+" group.

The coalition was set up in February in response to shifting US policy towards the war between Ukraine and Russia, and European security in general under President Donald Trump, AFP said.

The meeting follows Saturday's visit by the leaders of France, Germany, Poland and the UK to Kyiv, where they called for Russia to agree to an unconditional 30-day ceasefire to allow for peace talks -- a proposal they said was backed by the US.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul on May 15, but did not respond to the European call for a 30-day ceasefire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would be prepared to meet Putin in Türkiye, but did not say whether he would still attend if Russia refused the European proposal.

The London meeting, where Lammy is expected to announce further sanctions targeting those backing Russia's invasion, will be the sixth gathering of the Weimar+ group and the first hosted by the UK.

'Existential' challenge

The talks will cover "repelling Russian aggression and bolstering European security", said the UK Foreign Office.

They will focus on "both our joint efforts to strengthen European security and securing a just and lasting peace for Ukraine", it added. 

Lammy will be joined by his German, Spanish and Polish counterparts, while France will be represented by its minister for Europe Benjamin Haddad.

The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas will also attend.

European leaders are "facing a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent", said Lammy.

"The challenge we face today is not only about the future of Ukraine -– it is existential for Europe as a whole," he said ahead of the talks.

"I have brought our friends and partners to London to make clear that we must stand together, allied in our protection of sovereignty, of peace and of Ukraine," he added.

Ceasefire plan

European leaders have reacted with skepticism to Putin's proposal for direct talks in Istanbul, with French President Emmanuel Macron warning that he was merely trying "to buy time".

"An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition," he told reporters as he stepped off a train in the Polish city of Przemysl on his return from Ukraine.

He reiterated his position in a statement from the Elysee later Sunday, insisting on "necessity for a ceasefire" before talks between Putin and Zelensky.

In a phone call with Lammy on Sunday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington's "top priority remains bringing an end to the fighting and an immediate ceasefire", State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said.

Kyiv and its allies had feared that Trump was pivoting towards Moscow because he had clashed with Zelensky. But Trump has recently expressed growing impatience with Putin.



Iran Threats in UK 'Significantly Increased', Says Intel Watchdog

The parliamentary committee blamed Iran for at least 15 attempts at murder or kidnap inside the UK since 2022 - AFP
The parliamentary committee blamed Iran for at least 15 attempts at murder or kidnap inside the UK since 2022 - AFP
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Iran Threats in UK 'Significantly Increased', Says Intel Watchdog

The parliamentary committee blamed Iran for at least 15 attempts at murder or kidnap inside the UK since 2022 - AFP
The parliamentary committee blamed Iran for at least 15 attempts at murder or kidnap inside the UK since 2022 - AFP

A UK parliamentary committee on Thursday blamed Iran for at least 15 attempts to kill or kidnap British-based individuals since 2022, saying the threat from Iran had "significantly increased".

London's response has been too focused on "crisis management", said parliament's intelligence and security committee, with concerns over Iran's nuclear program dominating their attention too much.

Tehran swiftly issued a "categorical rejection of the unfounded, politically motivated and hostile allegations".

The committee's claims were "baseless, irresponsible, and reflective of a broader pattern of distortion intended to malign Iran's legitimate regional and national interests", said its London embassy, AFP reported.

The report comes after growing alarm in Britain at alleged Iranian targeting of dissidents, media organizations and journalists in the UK, including accusations of physical attacks.

Iran in March became the first country to be placed on an enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, which aims to boost Britain's national security against covert foreign influences.

It requires all persons working inside the country for Iran, its intelligence services or the Revolutionary Guard to register on a new list or face jail.

"Iran poses a wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat to the UK, UK nationals, and UK interests," Kevan Jones, chairman of the watchdog committee, said in the report's conclusions.

"Iran has a high appetite for risk when conducting offensive activity and its intelligence services are ferociously well-resourced with significant areas of asymmetric strength."

Jones said it bolstered this through proxy groups, "including criminal networks, militant and terrorist organisations, and private cyber actors" to allow for deniability.

His committee's report said that while Iran's UK activity "appears to be less strategic and on a smaller scale than Russia and China", it "should not be underestimated".

The physical threat posed had "significantly increased" in pace and volume, and was "focused acutely on dissidents and other opponents of the regime" as well as Jewish and Israeli interests in the UK, it said.

"The Iranian Intelligence Services have shown that they are willing and able -- often through third-party agents -- to attempt assassination within the UK, and kidnap from the UK," the report said.

"There have been at least 15 attempts at murder or kidnap against British nationals or UK-based individuals since the beginning of 2022."

Similarly, security minister Dan Jarvis said in March Britain's MI5 domestic intelligence service had tallied 20 Iran-backed plots "presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents".

The watchdog committee took evidence for two years from August 2021 for its report, a period which saw Tehran implicated in a plot to kill two London-based Iran International television anchors.

In March last year one of the Persian-language outlet's journalists was stabbed outside his London home.

Two Romanian men have been charged in relation to the attack and face extradition to the UK to stand trial.

The counter-terrorism unit of London's Metropolitan Police led the investigation. Iran's charge d'affaires in the UK has said that the Tehran authorities "deny any link" to the incident.