LONDON, December 19. /TASS/. Talks on a ceasefire in Ukraine are meaningless in the current situation as long as Russian troops are staying in that country, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday.

"We must be clear that any unilateral call for a ceasefire by Russia is completely meaningless in the current context. I think it would be a false call. It would be used by Russia to regroup, to reinforce their troops and until they have withdrawn from conquered territory, there can and should be no real negotiation," his office quoted him as saying at a meeting with his Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) counterparts.

He called on Western nations to continue to provide military aid to Ukraine. "That means more air defense systems, it means artillery, it means armored vehicles," he said. "For our part in the United Kingdom, we have pledged to match or exceed the Ј2.3bn ($2.8 bln - TASS) in aid that we provided this year next year and I would very much hope and encourage others around the table to do whatever they can to continue the strong support."

According to the British premier, JEF nations can take part in working out security guarantees to Ukraine after the conflict is over. Apart from that, Sunak called on the West to toughen sanctions pressure on Russia to reduce its economic potential.

Set up in 2014, the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) is a United Kingdom-led expeditionary force which consists of, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway. JEF nations periodically hold joint military drills.