Ukraine demands 30-day truce backed by allies including US

Ukraine and European powers demanded that Russia join an “unconditional” 30-day ceasefire from Monday to allow talks on ending the war, saying they had backing from U.S. President Donald Trump for the ultimatum.

A refusal by Russian President Vladimir Putin to observe the truce would trigger a fresh wave of sanctions targeting energy and the financial sector, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Kyiv on Saturday.

The plan was announced after Zelenskyy held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Polish premier Donald Tusk. The five leaders then discussed the proposal in a 20-minute call with Trump that hadn’t been previously scheduled and was described as “warm” by a person familiar with the interaction.

“We have agreed that from Monday, May 12, a full and unconditional ceasefire for at least 30 days should start,” Zelenskyy told reporters. “Together, we demand this from Russia. We know that the U.S. is supporting us on this.”

Ukraine and its allies had “an absolutely clear and unanimous stance” on the proposal, Zelenskyy said. “If Russia rejects a full and unconditional ceasefire, sanctions should be applied.”

The announcement came after Zelenskyy hosted the four European leaders for a “Coalition of the Willing” meeting. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said “more than 20 leaders” took part in the discussions by joining the meeting remotely.

“In case of violation of this ceasefire, we agreed that massive sanctions would be prepared and coordinated between Europeans and Americans,” Macron said. “In order to prepare this robust and long lasting peace, we will continue to bring our financial and military support to Ukraine.”

In April, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a top Trump ally, said that he has the commitment of 72 colleagues for a bill that would enact “bone-crushing” new sanctions on Moscow as well as tariffs on countries that buy its oil, gas and other key products if Putin doesn’t engage in serious talks to halt the war. The punishments would include a 500% tariff on imports from countries that buy Russian oil, petroleum products, natural gas or uranium, according to a draft seen by Bloomberg News.

Russia is open to dialogue on settling the conflict in Ukraine but is “resistant to any kinds of pressure,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNN on Saturday.

Earlier, Peskov dismissed the European threat of greater economic pressure, telling state television that “it’s pointless to frighten us with these sanctions” when Russia had already learned to live with existing restrictions enacted since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

It’s “impossible” to discuss a truce with Ukraine without taking into account a large number of nuances set out by Russia, Peskov said, according to the Interfax news service.

“Working with President Trump, with all our partners, we will ramp up sanctions and increase our military aid for Ukraine’s defense to pressure Russia back to the table,” Starmer told reporters. If Putin is “serious about peace then he has a chance to show it now,” he said.

Putin has shown no sign he’s willing to halt the invasion. In a speech on Friday at a military parade on Moscow’s Red Square to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, he declared Russians were united in support of his war and “that strength of spirit has always brought us only victory.”

Trump on Thursday called for a month-long unconditional truce to create space for direct negotiations to end a war that’s now in its fourth year. The U.S. and its partners would “impose further sanctions” if the ceasefire wasn’t observed, he said.

Asked Friday in the Oval Office if he had a message for Putin, Trump said: “I have a message for both parties. Get this war ended.

Once a ceasefire is in place, Ukraine is ready for “meetings and negotiations in any format,” Zelenskyy said in a post on the X platform.

The pace of diplomacy to end the longest and bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II has intensified after several meetings between European, U.S. and Ukrainian envoys, including in London and Paris. Those leaders held another series of phone calls this week, and Zelenskyy met Trump at the Vatican on April 26, when dignitaries gathered for the funeral of Pope Francis.

European and U.S. officials said privately that views within the White House on the conflict have hardened, with Putin now seen as an impediment to peace efforts. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said this week that Russia was “asking for too much” in order to end the war.

Putin has maintained maximalist positions for any ceasefire, including that Russia be granted control of four eastern and southeastern Ukrainian regions it annexed illegally in the 2022 full-scale invasion but doesn’t fully occupy.

The U.S. has floated proposals that would broadly freeze the conflict along current lines, leaving most of the territory occupied by Russia in Moscow’s hands. The Trump administration is also prepared to recognize the Ukrainian region of Crimea that Putin annexed in 2014 as Russian, Bloomberg reported in April.

Ukraine’s NATO aspirations would be off the table, sanctions on Russia would be lifted, while Kyiv would receive strong security guarantees to ensure that any deal holds.

Saturday morning, Zelenskyy and the four visiting leaders paid tribute to Ukraine’s war dead at a monument in Kyiv’s Independence Square before the start of the talks.

“We must end this war with a just peace,” Andriy Yermak, Zelenskyy's chief of staff, said on Telegram. “We must force Moscow to agree to a ceasefire.”

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(With assistance from Angelina Rascouet, Alex Wickham and Natalia Ojewska.)