As fighting rages on the ground amid US-brokered truce proposals, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stresses the UK’s intention to offer “robust and credible” security guarantees to stop Russia from attacking Ukraine once more.
In the event of a peace agreement, Starmer said in a virtual meeting with 25 world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that “we will build up Ukraine’s own defenses and armed forces, and be prepared to deploy as a “coalition of the willing” in the event of a peace agreement.
We agreed that military planners would meet in the UK once more this week to discuss how our militaries could support Ukraine’s future security, Starmer continued.
Following Putin’s on Friday consenting to an immediate 30-day ceasefire that Washington had already approved, the meeting took place. Putin, however, added that there were issues. Questions were also asked about who would oversee the ceasefire and whether the pause in fighting could be used by Kyiv to recruit new forces at a time when Russia is gaining ground in Kursk. In a lightning offensive in August, Ukrainian forces occupied a portion of the Russian region near Ukraine.
Questions remain as to whether Putin’s response signaled a sincere effort to end the conflict without completely rejecting President Donald Trump’s proposal. Trump’s radical change to US foreign policy, which upends the transatlantic alliance while opening up to Russia, has so far had a significant impact on the Kremlin.
President Putin’s stated desire for peace is completely countered by the Kremlin’s dithering and delay over President Trump’s ceasefire proposal and Russia’s ongoing barbaric attacks on Ukraine, according to Starmer.
Zelenskyy pressed his Western allies to form a “clear position” on the security guarantees, including placing troops in Ukraine, shortly after the virtual meeting.
Zelenskyy stated on social media that “the contingent must be stationed on Ukrainian soil.” “This is both a security guarantee for Europe and Ukraine.”
On a number of fronts, war is stillround.
Meanwhile, there is still fighting on the ground.
Some military analysts in the Kursk region predicted that Russia would soon eject Ukrainian forces from their months-old foothold in the western Russian region, prompting Trump to warn that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers were “completely surrounded”.
Zelenskyy insisted that Moscow was assembling forces nearby for a separate strike in a statement posted on social media after receiving information from his top general. Ukraine’s leverage in potential territorial negotiations is weakened by the Kursk reversal of fortunes. The territorial issue should be analyzed in more depth at a later time, according to Zellenskyy, who spoke on Saturday.
He also addressed the conflict on the front lines of Pokrovsk, a strategic city in eastern Ukraine, and how the country had “stabilized” and successfully used a new long-range missile domestically.
Russia and Ukraine engaged in intense aerial combat, with both reporting more than 100 enemy drones flying over their respective skies. Following a Ukrainian drone attack, a fire erupted near an oil facility in the Russian Volgograd region.
