European leaders agreed on Friday to press ahead with joint action against Russia over the failure to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, after consultations with US President Donald Trump.
Starmer spoke from Albania’s capital, Tirana, where leaders of dozens of European countries were gathered for the European Political Community, or EPC, summit attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“We just had a meeting with President Zelenskyy and then a phone call with President Trump to discuss the developments in the negotiations today, and the Russian position is clearly unacceptable,” Starmer told reporters.
“As a result of that meeting with President Zelenskyy, under discussion with President Trump, we are now closely aligning and coordinating our responses and will continue to do so,” he said.
Starmer said that he and the leaders of France, Germany and Poland had consulted Trump. He didn't say what the response might involve, but some European leaders pressed for new sanctions. The European Union is likely to adopt a new round of measures as soon as Tuesday.
Russia and Ukraine held their first direct peace talks since the early weeks of Moscow's full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. The talks, which were held in Türkiye on Friday, ended after less than two hours, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry and a Ukrainian official.
French President Emmanuel Macron said it was “unacceptable that, for a second time, Russia hasn’t responded to the demands made by the Americans, supported by Ukraine and the Europeans. No ceasefire, and therefore no meeting at a decision-making level. And no response.”
Macron added: “We will continue to coordinate with our European partners — the coalition of the willing — and the United States. There will be new contacts and feedback in the coming hours.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said: “The diplomatic efforts that we have made so far have unfortunately failed because of Russia’s lack of readiness to take the first steps in the right direction now.”
“But we will not give up; we will continue and we will coordinate well on the European side, together with the Americans,” Merz said.
‘The world must respond’
Earlier, Zelenskyy had said that Ukraine is committed to ending the war, but urged the European leaders to ramp up sanctions if Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to play for time in talks aimed at securing a truce.
“Ukraine is ready to take all realistic steps to end this war,” Zelenskyy said. But he warned: “If it turns out that the Russian delegation really is just theatrical and can’t deliver any results today, the world must respond.”
That reaction, he said, should include “sanctions against Russia’s energy sector and banks.”
Zelenskyy's remarks came after Putin declined to attend face-to-face talks in Istanbul.
“I think Putin made a mistake by sending a low-level delegation,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said as he arrived for the summit under a steady drizzle. “The ball is clearly in his part of the field now, in his court. He has to play ball. He has to be serious about wanting peace.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that it was clear that “President Zelenskyy was ready to meet but President Putin never showed up, and this shows his true belief. So we will increase the pressure.”
Von der Leyen said that the EU is preparing a new package of sanctions. She said that the measures would target the shadow fleet of aging cargo vessels that Russia is using to bypass international sanctions and the Nord Stream pipeline consortium.
Russia’s financial sector would also be targeted, she said. EU envoys have been working on the new sanctions package for several weeks, and the bloc’s foreign ministers could enact them as soon as Tuesday.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni stressed that efforts to reach a deal on Ukraine must continue.
“I think ... that we must not throw in the towel. I think we must insist, we must insist for an unconditional ceasefire and a serious peace agreement that includes guarantees of security for Ukraine,” she said.
